Magical Encounters
by Becca-12393
Summary: Ariana faces her first year of Hogwarts around mystery, confusion and fear as she attempts to make sense of the question everyone is asking, why is a Dumbledore in Slytherin? Ariana will have to face the truth of a past she can never change.
1. Birthday surprises

Magical encounters

Chapter one: Birthday Surprises

DISCLAIMER: I will probably not always post this but I think everyone knows that I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters. I simply created an interesting plot to be the continuation of J.K. Rowling's masterpiece.

She woke to the sounds of the people around her rushing to get out of bed and downstairs for breakfast before all the pancakes were gone. She closed her eyes tightly and tried to block out all the noises around her, her dream had been good that night and she longed to return to it. Although, now that she had woken up she could only remember the last few moments of it. She had been in a room all by herself when she heard a commotion downstairs. It was a house that had felt strangely familiar and it still did even now when she was awake. She couldn't remember anything else and she hated herself for it. She had been older in the dream and it made her have one of those silly moments where she thought she had powers or was psychic or something.

She smiled at herself slightly and nuzzled her nose on her pillow just as she heard a booming voice come from downstairs.

"ARIANA!!!" Mary called from downstairs. " get down here sweetheart before you miss breakfast."

Ariana stretched her arms up above her head and them quietly slid of the bed. She went to her closet and pulled out the first things she could find and pulled them on. Then she walked in front of her mirror to access her choices. Her hair as always was a long wavy blond mess and her light blue tank top made her eyes look amazing. She smiled at her jeans that fit her perfectly and decided that this was as good as it could get and quickly pulled her hair up into a messy bun.

Ariana ran down the halls of the house and ran her fingers along the pale blue walls as she rushed down the stairs. She reached the kitchen only to find that it was empty except for the plates and cups of all the other kids.

"Hello?" Ariana said. "Guys? Mary? Where is everybody?"

Ariana looked around the kitchen quite a few times before realizing that there was probably some practical joke going on. She glumly sat down on one of the old wooden chairs surrounding the huge table and waited to be the butt of whatever joke everyone had planned for her as some sort of punishment for sleeping in. She reached for a cup of orange juice and just as she took a sip all the doors leading to the kitchen burst open and a loud chorus of happy birthday broke out all around Ariana.

Ariana, who was shocked at fist because she hadn't thought about what day it was, was showered with happy birthdays and punches and pinches on her arms. She laughed and played and ate her favorite breakfast, chocolate chip waffles, and everyone had signed a giant card that was dated at the top but the instant she saw the date she knew something was wrong.

" Mary," Ariana called pointing at the card. "I don't understand, according to this, there are still two weeks till my birthday. What's going on?"

"I was wondering when you would notice." Mary said smiling and tilting her head slightly so that her dark hair fell over one of her shoulders. " That's your other surprise, I got a letter Ari and it told me that you have been accepted to a school and that your name has been down for this school since birth. But you see, the term begins on September 1st so of course we had to put something like this together before you left because unfortunately you are leaving on your birthday."

" Leaving?" Ariana began looking frightened. "So it's a boarding school? But how am I supposed get adopted that way?"

The room got silent all of a sudden and Ariana felt as if everyone were thinking the same thing that she was. But Ariana also thought about how old she was and how the younger kids had a better chance with or without her being at the orphanage.

"Honey," Mary began. "Don't worry about that. This is such a great opportunity for you and don't worry sweetie you don't have to choose yet, some one is coming by to explain the school to you. You can choose then."

"well, when are they coming? I mean do I have to be ready like today?"

" The letter said that one of their professors will be here tomorrow." Mary finished still smiling.

"ok." Ariana said. Although in reality she was confused as well as curious about what kind of school would take in an ten year old going on eleven orphan.

~*~*~*~

The rest of the day went along quietly and quickly and before Ariana knew it, it was time to go to sleep. She headed upstairs with the 4 other girls she shared a room with and got ready for bed. Ariana lay there with her head lying calmly on the pillow for a while thinking about what would happen the next day when an interesting thought came to her.

_If my name has been down for this school since birth then does that mean that my parents put me down for it ? _In an instant Ariana's mind as completely made up. _If I go to this school I might find out who I am, who my parents are, there is no way I can pass this up._

With those thoughts rolling around in her mind Ariana closed her eyes and drifted into to sleep and a dream that began with whispered voices.

Ariana saw a little girl who looked vaguely familiar sitting in the backyard of a huge grand house she was playing with a pebble that seemed to levitate in front of her. She was laughing like crazy and must have been seven at the time. Before long another pebble rose up in front of her and she moved it up and down with a movement from her pointer finger. Giggling at this the little girl started twirling the rocks around using her fingers to direct them. She was so immersed in the rocks that she failed to notice three boys coming out of the bushes with wide eyes and jealous expressions.

The three boys drew closer as the little girl added another pebble to the bunch and began spinning it with the other two. Her laughter was very loud at this point and she threw her head back in joy closing her eyes but keeping the motion of the rocks going. One of the boys slipped and a twig snapped under his feet causing alarm to the other boys. The little girl's head snapped back and her pebbles dropped at once from the air when she set eyes on the boys, her expression changing from one of joy to one of panic.

Ariana herself watching from above felt her stomach clench and suddenly she knew something bad was going to happen here and that she didn't want to see it. The boys questioned the little girl and told her to show them the trick and no matter how hard she tried her panic was not allowing her to copy the anomaly she had performed earlier. The boys drew closer to the little girl questioning her more fervently and each time she attempted to perform the trick she would panic more and more because it was obvious she was incapable of doing it again. Just as it seemed the boys were losing their patience the dream became blurry and dark and Ariana retreated into the darkness, remaining there until she woke up in the morning to get ready for her visitor.

~*~*~*~

Thanks for reading everyone I don't know how often I will post, if you read please review but hopefully there will be no flames =]. I hope you liked chapter one bye =]


	2. Aberforth's Gift

Magical encounters

Chapter two: Aberforth's Gift

Disclaimer= I don't own HP

Ariana wiped the sweat from her forehead as she sat up in her bed. She had woken up before her alarm had rung and decided to get ready ahead of time for what was sure to be an eventful morning. She dressed in a long sleeved blouse and her favorite and most flattering air of jeans, she was determined to impress. She grabbed her alarm clock and shut it off so it wouldn't wake any of her friends and headed down to the kitchen where Mary would be, probably cooking breakfast for everyone.

Ariana walked into the kitchen quietly and sat down on the table, watching Mary work efficiently over the stove her mousy brown hair getting bigger and bigger by the minute. Ariana smiled slightly and thought about all the things she would miss about this orphanage, the smell, the people, and of course the memories. Ariana looked again to Mary and saw her spreading more butter on the frying pan, the butter was popping occasionally and every time it touched her skin she gave a little jump.

" Hey Mary?" Ariana called out making Mary jump even higher, "Can you tell me how I got here again?"

"Jeez Ari, you scared me!" Mary exclaimed as she turned down the temperature of the stove and faced Ariana. "What do you wanna know, kid? I don't know much, back then my mom was running the place and I was just helping out for an extra buck."

"oh," Ariana replied, obviously disappointed. " But you know something, right? Like, maybe where I came from or something."

"Honey," Mary said, sympathy in he voice. " I wish I knew more, but you kinda showed up outta nowhere. There you were on our doorstep on September 1st, a note came with you though." Now Mary closed her eyes as if in thought. " I think it said…um, that… oh gosh I can't remember but I think we might have it in an album some where. Keep an eye on these," she said pointing to the eggs. "I will go look for it."

Mary rushed out of the room and slammed the door as she went. Ariana got up and grabbed the spatula quickly and rushed over to the stove, grateful for something to do to calm her nerves. As she flipped the eggs in the frying pan she began to hum while wondering what awaited her. Ariana also thought about her dream and how terrified the little girl had been.

_I wonder who she was, _Ariana thought. _she looked so familiar, but I just can't remember who she is._

Just then Mary strode back inside the room and dropped a huge photo album on the long rectangular kitchen table. She and Ariana switch places and as Ariana sat down she saw the large gold letters on the purple background of the photo album. It simply spelled her name in pretty letters, but she couldn't help but be mesmerized by it. This was her album, she didn't even know Mary and the other ladies had kept one of these, they took pictures often enough but she had never seen an entire album dedicated to one person.

Ariana grabbed at it greedily and opened it as quickly as she could, turning to the last page and deciding unconsciously to start from the end. There she was, just yesterday sitting with her friends and smiling at the camera at her fake eleventh birthday party. Under it there was a caption saying when it was taken and what event it was. She turned the pages to find out that all her birthdays were documented along with all the other important events of her childhood. Her losing her first tooth and riding a bike and taking her first steps, the Ariana in the pictures got younger until finally she was on the back of the front page. Looking down at it Ariana saw a little baby snuggled up in blankets, it was comfortable in the arms of a young girl that must have been Mary as a teenager, Mary's mom was beside them both smiling. The caption beneath it read, Ariana on our doorstep, September 1st.

Ariana took a deep breath and turned to the first page and there it was, the note Mary had mentioned. It was written is a messy script and next to it there was the picture of a man who was quite old and more than a little fat. He stood in front of a pub looking extremely proud of himself yet not overly cocky. Then he looked at Ariana and smiled. He moved! And to Ariana's shock he continued to move and wave and smile. Ariana thought she was crazy and simply looked away from the picture to the other contents of the page.

There was a key taped down about two inches away from the note that was on the page, although there was no caption explaining what it was for, there was an arrow pointing to the note. Ariana drew up all her strength and looked at the note. It was short and looked as though it had been rushed and Ariana knew this was probably the only thing she would ever have of her parents. The note read:

Dear Ari,

When the time comes find the room that can't be found and unlock the passage of your dreams. When you find the mirror broken and blocked, find its whole sister and the memories which now are rightfully yours. The key is for Gringotts. I love you

With all my love, I wish I could be there,

Aberforth Dumbledore

Then in a much more rushed and messy script:

Document her life, her name is Ariana Dumbledore after my sister, take care till she leaves for school.

Ariana read this over and over again examining the first part very closely before deciding that she couldn't make heads or tails of it. She sat back against the chair and stared at the man in the picture who was now laughing with one hand behind his head and the other on his bulging belly. Ariana's giggle was stifled by a sob that he hadn't seen coming. She looked down at her shirt and saw the teardrops on it, she hadn't even realized she had been crying.

Ariana sucked in a big breath and looked up towards Mary, only to see that the stove was off and Mary was standing there looking at her. Mary came closer until she was next to Ariana, she sat down in the chair beside Ari and took her hand.

"I forgot about it after my mom died," Mary began. " But when I went looking for the note I remembered it. The album itself was with you when we found you, my mom thought it would be right for us to listen to his wishes, we thought they sounded last the type of thing you would put in a will."

"You think he died?" Ariana asked already feeling like she knew the answer.

"Yeah, I do." Mary said, giving Ariana's hand a squeeze " I mean he said he wished he could be here so why would he have given you away."

" Yeah, I guess you are right. But what's up with the picture of him? It like moves and stuff."

" I don't know but when mom and I saw it we just figured that we shouldn't tell anyone since they would think we were crazy."

" Right," Ariana said, noticing that more and more people were showing up downstairs. " Well the professor person should be here soon and everyone is coming down for breakfast but thanks or showing me this. Sorry for asking but, can I keep it?

" Of course," Mary smiled, hugging Ariana. "I love you Ari and I will miss you. You can eat then just hang out with everyone and pack, I don't know when you will have to leave but I think you should make the most out of your time here."

~*~*~*~

The morning was uneventful and Ariana spent it and most of the early afternoon talking to people and packing her belongings into a huge trunk Mary had gotten her. Occasionally however Ariana would sneak away into a private corner or cupboard and look at the album and most of all the note and the picture on the first page. It was while she was in one of these private places with her head in a far away place that there was a commotion in the orphanage.

It seemed that a most peculiar, particularly rotund man had arrived in search of the very girl who was hidden away in her own thoughts. He introduced himself to Mary as a professor at the Hogwarts school and asked her if she would be willing to have a word with him. Mary of course said yes and welcomed the man, who now told her his name with Neville Longbottom, then they retreated into Mary's office.

"So," Mary began watching the man's cheeky face for any bad intentions, but all she saw was kindness. "Ariana has been accepted to your school."

"Yes," Neville replied. " She is very special and she will get the very best education she could possibly have here. But, um, would you mind telling me a little more about her? Is she a good girl? Things like that."

"Ariana is a sweetheart Mr. Longbottom." Mary said, her initial cold shoulder fading. "She is always helping her friends and me around here. She is nice and the only thing I have ever found unusual is that she often has dreams about herself over and over. Oh and she tends to be able to make things happen."

" What do you mean?" Neville said, his curiosity aroused.

" She has dreams about herself in a house she reckons she has seen before, but it's in the future. Actually sometimes its even in the past. " Mary said looking sad. "They freak her out quite a bit, but she always just puts them aside, in fact she hasn't told me about one since last week. Of course she might just be keeping to herself. As for the other ting well lets just say that she tends to make good things happen."

Mary was silent for a while as if deciding whether she should tell this stranger something personal.

" Like once," Mary said a weird look in her face like she was pleading with Neville to believe it was true. "We had a little girl with cancer and Ariana thought up a way to fundraise but no people would show up but when she realized that Ari started saying it would happen every night. Then in three days so many donations came in, and they kept coming until we had enough money then they just stopped. Then, unfortunately the transplant didn't work and every one was so sure that the little girl was going to die, everyone except Ariana. Ari went to her room every night and sat there holding the girls hand saying that the cancer was going to go away and that she would take it away. No one believed her of course but she kept at it every night, and every night when she was done saying that and talking to the girl, Bridget, Ari would kiss her forehead and leave. After about a week of this every night we all noticed Bridget looked better so we took her for some tests and somehow the cancer was in remission. Bridget was completely better within a year and got adopted by a family too."

Mary looked at Neville with a scared expression thinking he was going to say she was nuts instead Neville looked at her calmly and smiled.

"She sounds perfect," He said. "Can I see her to let her know how things work? It would have to be in private."

" Err, yeah I will send her to the meeting room if you will meet her there." Mary said slightly shocked at his calm reaction.

" Of course," he said standing to walk out. " I will meet her there, then. See you soon."

Then he swiftly walked out and found a young man to lead him to the meeting room and left Mary to her task.

--------

Thanks for reading please R&R. Next chapter will be up soon hopefully and we will get to see what happens when Ariana finds out what she is and the truth about the school she has been invited to. Hope you liked it =]

Becca


	3. Neville Longbottom

Magical Encounters

Chapter three: Neville Longbottom

Disclaimer: I don't own HP

Neville sat down on an inviting purple couch near the entrance of the room just as the young man who had escorted him to the room turned on the lights and closed the door. He leaned back and thought about how to present the situation to a new witch. As he sank into the cushions he thought about all the ways this could go so horribly wrong. Neville continued to ponder on how he should proceed with his task when he heard to voices outside the room.

"His name is professor Longbottom." A voice Neville recognized as the woman he had met earlier, Mary began. "He seems nice and I know you will do fine."

"Ok," another voice, Neville took it to be Ariana, said quietly.

The door swung open revealing the two women in its wake. Mary ushered Ariana into and shot a look at Neville as if to say that he shouldn't dare to bother this girl. Ariana turned to look at Mary for one last comfort and saw that Mary was already shutting the door behind as she left.

"It's ok," Neville said but when Ariana turned her wide icy blue eyes onto him he couldn't help but gasp. "You look so much like your aunt, I saw a portrait of her once in your father's pub."

"You knew him, Aberforth?" Ariana asked her eyes wide with excitement. "Does that mean that people at this school of yours know him?"

"Some people do, but I reckon most people will recognize your name because of his brother. Albus Dumbledore was the greatest headmaster Hogwarts ever had." Neville caught the inquisitive look on Ariana's face and continued on before she had a chance to ask questions. "I know you want to know about your family but I'm afraid we have to talk about the real reason I'm here. You have been accepted to Hogwarts: school of witchcraft and wizardry."

Ariana had initially opened her mouth to make a snappy retort but now all she could manage to make her mouth do was hang open with surprise. She stumbled to the arm chair across from Neville and sank into it closing her mouth and looking utterly and completely confused. Ariana and Neville sat in silence for a few minutes. Neville stared at Ariana waiting for her reaction while Ariana looked down at the linoleum floor apparently in deep thought.

"Witchcraft and wizardry?" Ariana questioned finally looking up at Neville's round face. "Like magic?"

"Yes, like magic." Neville said smiling. "And you are a witch, who had a wizard as a dad. This school will teach how to use your powers and merge you into the wizarding world."

"You must be kidding," Ariana continued the disbelief evident in her voice. "I'm not a witch, there is nothing magical about me. I'm just another girl stuck in this place waiting for some one to adopt me. Yeah! Actually now that I think about it, if I have magic why haven't I been adopted yet? I mean couldn't I have just zapped some one here to adopt me."

"It doesn't work that way," Neville said his chocolate eyes locking onto her piercing and icy blue ones. "Young witches and wizards don't have any control over their magic that's why certain things may happen because of you while others won't. See, at Hogwarts we will teach you how to control your magic and from then on you will be expected to keep it secret and never use it in the presence of muggles."

Ariana raised her eyebrows and looked at Neville for a very long time before speaking again.

"I once helped a girl get better from being sick," She began. "but I was just hoped for it and held her hand, I don't really think it was me but everyone else does." She looked at him quickly before continuing. " I also have dreams sometimes, sometimes they are about me when I'm older and I'm in my body but sometimes it's like I'm watching myself. Oh, and yesterday I had a dream about a little girl and I think I have had it before but I can't really remember when. Is that normal? And what the heck are muggles?"

"It's not unusual," Neville began smiling at her. "The dreams aren't unusual anyway. As for the other event, well I think maybe you just have some healing talents. And muggle is the word used for non-magical folks."

Ariana took in a deep breath in and looked down at her hands. She had no idea what to think, on one hand it all kind of made sense while on the other it sound just a little bit too crazy. She thought about the moving picture in her album and the key next to it and how nothing in that note made sense.

"Do you reckon I should believe you?" Ariana said, looking at Neville and hoping for a sign.

" I think," said Neville looking at her with the same friendly smile as before. " That you should believe what your heart tells you to believe. Don't you ever believe that you are special or that some how you're different, because you are. I can tell just by looking at you that you are different even for a witch, here is just something about you."

Neville watched her for any expression that would show she disagreed, but none came. She brought her legs up on the chair and wrapped her arms around them. She looked at him for a minute more, her face a mix of confusion and sadness. Ariana knew he was right. She was different, things always seemed to happen to her, whether they be good or bad. Whatever Ariana wanted, she got even if it was something bad for some one else. She laid her forehead on her knees and felt tears slide down onto them.

Ariana had made bad things happen in the past, and although back then she had thought they were just coincidences, she knew now that she had forced them to occur. She thought about the time where Billy Fink had broken the head off her favorite doll and then broken his arm the next day. Ariana thought about how much trouble Bethany and Heather had given her about her night light and how they both got chicken pox within the week after that. She remembered feeling horrible and having everyone tell her it wasn't her fault. Ariana had wanted to believe them but she couldn't, something inside her told her she was to blame and after those incidents she tried not to think anything badly of anyone. It hadn't worked, ever, and now she knew why. Ariana felt horrible, she was horrible, she had made all those things happen. The tears flowed steady from her eyes by now and she felt her last hopeful light that these events might have not been her fault bubble up into her throat.

"Can you prove it?" She said, lifting her head to look at him, hoping he couldn't yet some how knowing he could.

"Yes," Neville said, a sad look filling his face as he pulled out a wooden stick Ariana took to be a wand, and pointed it at the table beside him. "Wingardium leviosa."

The table lifted into the air and floated towards Neville as he maneuvered it with his wand, he moved it around for a few more minutes before gently putting it down where it belonged. Ariana had watched with wonder at the floating table and when he put it down she took a deep breath and looked at him with a fake smile.

"You know," Neville began noticing how empty her eyes were. "It doesn't matter what you've done, you couldn't control it. Now if you decide to come this school you will you will learn to control it, and you will never hurt anyone again. Although, if you don't, I don't know what will happen, it might get better, but it could also get worse. It's up to you, but if you want to stop hurting people and you want to be around people who understand what you have been through, then you should accept this."

"You are right," Ariana said wiping her face with her arm. " I need to go, but I have one more question: how am I supposed to pay for school supplies and tuition?"

"I am pretty sure," Neville began thoughtfully. "That Aberforth left some money for you in his vault. But of course we would need to find your key, and I have no idea where that could be so-."

"Wait a second, I'll be right back." Ariana mumbled as she stumbled across the room and out the door.

Neville sat in silence and confusion wondering where she had gone and why. It must have been at most five minutes before Neville heard the door open once again and Ariana re-entered carrying a large purple book in her arms. This time she sat beside Neville on the purple couch and laid the purple book on her lap. She stole a quick look at Neville and opened the book, which Neville now saw was a photo album, to its first page. Neville saw a picture of Aberforth waving back at him, a key, and a piece of paper which Ariana was, most obviously and quite vehemently, covering with her hand.

"Is this the key you are talking about." Ariana said, taking her free hand and pointing to the key taped down on the page.

"Yes," Neville gasped, grinning hugely at Ariana. "I do believe that is quite possibly the key to your family's vault at Gringotts." -Ariana glanced at the note hidden beneath her hand when Neville mentioned that name- " Next stop, Diagon Alley!"

~*~*~*~

Hey everyone, I hope you are liking it so far. I personally didn't get into this chapter until Ari started crying but I hope it doesn't show in my writing. I will update when I can, please R&R and let me know what you think.

Becca.


	4. The Treasures In the Vault

Magical Encounters

Chapter 4: Diagon Alley and The Memories In The Vault.

Disclaimer: I don't own HP

With that said Neville stood at once from the large couch, nearly knocking over the large book in Ariana's lap. He looked down at her still smiling and stretched out his hand to help her up. Ariana raised her eyebrows at his sudden desire to stand and took his hand after a few seconds of hesitation. Neville pulled the second she grasped his hand, causing Ariana to make a high pitched noise that most closely resembled a squeak and making the album fall to the floor, and pulled her to her feet.

" Time to go," Neville said, smiling down at her. "If we leave now we can still return by tonight. By the way grab the key from the album, you will be needing it."

Ariana picked the album up and pulled the key from the front page then Neville began to pull her hand along with him, he had gotten as far as the hallway before Ariana realized what was happening and pulled against his hand, stopping him.

"And, where, may I ask," She began looked up at him completely flabbergasted. "Are we going? What is this alley place? Sounds to me like a black market and if that's the kind of place I have to go to get money for your school then I'm not sure if Hogwarts is the place for me."

She crossed her arms and looked defiantly at Neville. Now, it was Neville's turn to look confused.

"Black market?" He asked, looking at Ariana with his eyebrows furrowed. "Now what in the world gave you that idea? Diagon Alley is a market place were you can get your school supplies for this year, there is nothing dark about it. Now Knocturn alley that's a different story, very dark place indeed, but we have no need to go there, so I don't believe we need to worry about it."

Ariana looked at him for a long time, she wasn't sure if she could trust Neville, but she had to choose what she wanted to do and she had to do it soon. She bit her bottom lip and fidgeted her toes as she always did when she was nervous. She looked down at her feet and sighed deeply.

"I have to tell Mary," She began not looking up at Neville. "Then we can go."

Ariana looked up at Neville and his huge smile was back on his face. He nodded his head deliberately and made a grand gesture signaling that he agreed and that the door was the way he pointed. Ariana began walking towards the door and as she passed Neville she heard him fall into step behind her. Ariana opened the door and crossed over the upraised threshold, she had walked about four feet past this point when she heard a yelp followed by a loud thump coming from behind her. She turned around to see Neville, her professor, lying on the ground in front of her rubbing his butt . She helped him up quickly and looked at his bewildered face, then as if her bubble of maturity had popped, she burst into laughter.

~*~*~*~

Ariana's eyes opened suddenly as the car hit a pothole, causing her to jump as she sat in the passenger seat. She rubbed her eyes and looked at her professor just as he mumbled an apology, his eyes focused solely on the road in front of him. Ariana yawned and looked out the window, it seemed, to her, that they still had a while to go to get to the center of London.

"You know," Ariana said, looking at her professor once again. " I would've thought wizards would travel using, I don't know, cooler methods. Driving a car seems so dull, no offense, but I was expecting like dragons or something."

"Bloody hell," Neville exclaimed, his eyes widening but still focused on the road. "No way, dragons are dangerous! Besides they are too easily seen, there are much safer and more discreet ways to travel in the wizarding world. There are broomsticks, and they are fun but I personally think its not quick enough, plus you are too easily affected by the weather. Then there is the floo network, which is when you travel from fireplace to fireplace and it's safe but I feel like there are too many restrictions. No, the easiest way to travel is apparation, which is kind of like teleporting and it only takes a couple of seconds. I thought about taking you to Diagon Alley using side along apparation but I didn't want to do that just yet since it is quite uncomfortable and you are so young."

"Oh," Ariana said obviously surprised. "Ok then, I guess driving is the best way to go."

"By the way," Neville began, stealing a glance at Ariana. "What did Mary say when you asked her permission to go out?"

"um," Ariana winced as she remembered all the glares she had received when she asked if she could go out with a stranger. "I don't want to talk about it, Mary can be rather scary when she wants to be."

After that the ride continued in silence, with the exception of Neville humming along with some of the songs that came on the radio. Ariana closed her eyes and leaned her head back on the seat, she breath deeply and everything was gone. The noises of the car and Neville fell away as Ariana drifted to sleep, but before she even had a chance to sink into her dreams she was shaken by Neville and told it was time to go.

Neville walked out of the car and around to Ariana's door so that he could opened it and help her out of the vehicle. Ariana stepped out into the sunlight and squinted as she looked toward the stores she was facing. There was a bookstore and a record store in front of her and she raised her eyebrows before looking at Neville.

"This, is where I'm getting my supplies?" Ariana questioned, then she looked again at the shops, to double check what she had seen and gasped. "Bloody hell, I swear that pub wasn't there before."

"Ah," Neville said walking forward towards the pub. "Was it not there? Or, is it possible you were simply not looking for it?"

Ariana and Neville walked closer to the door of the pub and Neville opened the door for Arianna to take a step inside. Instantly Ariana was in a dimly lit room with very few windows, she waited for her eyes to adjust and then took in her surroundings. The table around her were scattered and only some were being used, there was also a counter at the furthest end of the pub and behind it stood a young lady who looked up at Ariana and Neville and smiled.

The people sitting at the tables looked up at Ariana and Neville as they passed and some even seemed to acknowledge Neville with nods of their heads and other gestures. Ariana noticed that this pub had a door leading to a courtyard at its back, she got extremely curious but thought it best to stick close to Neville since no one at this pub seemed too friendly.

They approached the counter and the woman behind it smiled even more and laid two drinks down, gesturing for them to sit. Neville sat down and smiled up at the woman. Ariana sat down and steadied herself on the high chair and just as she was going to look up at the woman and say hello, the woman leaned over the counter and kissed Neville gently on the lips. Ariana swung her feet and looked away, it felt as if she was intruding on something. Their kiss was over quickly, to Ariana's happiness, and before long a conversation had commenced.

" Hello, darling." The woman said smiling at Neville. "How was your day?"

"Exciting, I think." He said looking at Ariana. "Hannah, my sweet, this is Ariana Dumbledore. Ari, this is my wife, Hannah."

"How do you do?" Hannah said taking and shaking Ariana's hand while looking into her icy blue eyes. "Wow, a Dumbledore, I can already tell you are destined for greatness. I can't wait to see which house you're in." She lowered her voice and spoke quietly to Ariana. "Now, my husband will tell you Gryffindor is the best, but Hufflepuff is totally better."

"Hey!" Neville exclaimed. "No influencing her! Anyway sweets we have to be going," Hannah was about to say something before he stopped her. "I know we didn't drink anything but we have to go, I promised her guardian at the orphanage I would have her home by nightfall."

"Fine then," Hannah began as Ariana and Neville began to stand. "You know what to do, and Neville,"-Hannah glanced at Ari and then back to her husband- "You know you have to tell her."

"I know," Neville said and his wife nodded. "Come on Ari let's go."

"O.k.," Ariana stuttered, utterly confused. " Nice to meet you."

Hannah smiled and kissed her husband good-bye, then she watched Neville and Ariana as they walked to the rear courtyard of the pub. Ariana and Neville opened the door and walked out into the sun, squinting as they went, and walked to the center of the courtyard. Ariana looked around and realized at once that the courtyard was very small and very sparsely decorated. All around the tiny courtyard the were weeds poking up from the ground and around its perimeter was a red brick wall.

To the left side of the wall there nothing, but on the right the was a small dustbin which is where Neville led Ariana. They reached the dustbin and Neville looked down on it and smiled.

"You know," Neville said taking his wand out and tapping some of the bricks above the dustbins. "It's been so long since I've used this entrance that I can't remember which brick- Ah!"

Just then Neville had tapped the third brick from the left above the dustbin and suddenly an archway opened in the wall. Neville nudged Ariana to go forward once she did, Ariana couldn't believe her eyes. All around her were shops of every shape and size, one on top of the other plastered with posters advertising their newest products. Ariana smiled as she observed all the other witches and wizards rushing about the place, trying to get where ever they needed to go. She heard Neville say welcome to Diagon Alley next to her but he seemed so far away that she didn't answer. Neville shoved a piece into Ariana's tiny hand and said something to her, although, when it was apparent she was not paying attention he chose to repeat himself.

"Ariana!" Neville very nearly shouted, knocking Ariana out of her trance and making her look at him. "That's your supplies, where would you like to go first."

"I want to get my wand." Ariana said not even looking at the list in her hands. "Can we do that first? Where do we have to go?"

"Yes, we can do that." Neville began but then he sighed and looked down at Ariana. "But before anything, we have to go to Gringotts."

"Oh," Ariana said signaling to Neville that he could start leading the way. " Your right, lets go."

~*~*~*~

After walking for about five minutes Ariana had followed Neville to a building unlike any other she had ever seen. Gringotts was a giant snow-white building that stood above all the other shops around it, up ahead Ariana could see the huge bronze doors leading into what she was sure would be a very extravagant chamber. She and Neville walked briskly up the white stone steps that lead to the doors and were greeted by the goblins there. Ariana, who had never seen a goblin before marveled at them and very eagerly shook their hands and smiled, all the while receiving confused looks from the goblins. The goblins opened the doors for Ariana and Neville and together they stepped into a wide hallway which ended with a set of enormous set silver doors.

"What were they professor?" Ariana asked as they continued down the hallway to the doors.

"Those were goblins, they are very smart but one must proceed with caution with goblins, they have fought with wizards for equal rights for many years and some of them seem remain a tad bit hostile." Neville explained just as he and Ariana reached doors at the end of the short hallway. "Ahh, here we go. This poem talks about how it is impossible to break into this place, its only happened twice ever. You should take a look."

Ariana nodded at Neville and looked up at the doors to read the poem Neville spoke of. It read:

Enter, stranger, but take heed

Of what awaits the sin of greed,

For those who take, but do not earn,

Must pay most dearly in their turn,

So if you seek beneath our floors,

A treasure that was never yours,

Thief, you have been warned, beware,

Of finding more than treasure there.

Ariana looked at it for a moment longer and then put her hand on the handle of the doors and pulled. The silver doors opened into a marble entrance hall bigger than anything Ariana had ever seen. There was a long counter at the back of this room laden with goblins talking to the wizards they were serving, and behind them there were dozens and dozens of doors into which the goblins would lead the wizards. In front of the counter were countless witches and wizards waiting for their turn to be served and Neville lead Ariana to the shortest line and they waited there until they were called.

"It's beautiful," Ariana said her eyes jumping around from place to place. "Where do those doors lead?"

"They lead down to the vaults," Neville said looking up as he and Ariana were called up to the goblin in the front of their line. "Ah, here we go." They stood in front of the goblin and Neville smiled nicely at him. "Good day, hello. I'm Neville Longbottom and I'm here to help this little lady withdraw some money from her vault."

The goblin now turned its head to look at Ariana. "And who might you be?"

"I'm Ariana, Ariana Dumbledore?" Ariana said, attempting to sound confident, but instead it came out as a question.

"And," the goblin said looking at her with his piercing Black eyes. "Do you, miss Ariana, have your key?"

"Uh," Ariana began, riffling through her pockets and pulling out the little tiny golden key. "Yeah, here."

The beady eyed goblin took the key from her hands and stood up to lead them to one of the doors behind the counter. Ariana and Neville followed the goblin to the door and as he opened it they stepped inside, instantly the scenery changed. Suddenly they stood in a place that led Ariana to believe they were not in Gringotts anymore. It was a narrow passageway lit only by torches which were hung on the walls. Ariana and Neville followed the goblin for a minute or so until they came up to a little cart. The goblin went inside it and looked at his two passengers as they came on along with him.

"Brace yourself." Neville whispered quickly to Ariana, while reaching out to grab some part of the cart.

Ariana nodded and set out to do the same but before she could the cart jolted forward and started rushing through the dark catacombs. Ariana fell backwards on her rear end and gasped from the pain. She reached for the side of the cart but got Neville instead and held on as hard as she could. Ariana pulled herself up just in time to see the blur of the walls around the cart right before the cart stopped.

Ariana let go of Neville and took a deep breath to steady herself as the goblin opened the cart door, she saw Neville do the same right before he followed the small goblin off the cart. Ariana stepped off cautiously and followed the other two to a large silver door. The goblin stretched out his hand and put the key in the lock but he didn't open the door, he simply turned toward Ariana.

"This is the Dumbledore vault. When Albus Dumbledore died his money was left in this vault and Aberforth got the lot. Aberforth then transferred his gold into this vault, which was his family's original vault given to the eldest son. It now belongs to you Ms. Dumbledore, Take the gold and spend it on what you desire, but don't defile your family treasures and heirlooms. Keep them near your heart and out of greedy hands, most of all the Dumbledore family possessions are in this room."

Having said that, leaving Ariana confused, the goblin turned the key and lead Ariana and Neville into the vault. Ariana gasped at the sight before her. The vault was an enormous room laden with golden coins everywhere she looked. At first this was all Ariana could see, but she ventured deeper into the vault and discovered everything she could have ever imagined. There was jewelry and robes of every color and even photo albums of the family, documented by year and filled completely with moving pictures. On one wall of the room there were newspaper clippings about one of the Dumbledores and Ariana made a mental note to ask Neville about it later.

Ariana was still looking at all this when Neville came up beside her and handed her a pouch. Ariana opened it with ease and it was empty except for a small white gold necklace which Ariana quickly scooped up to examine. Her eyes widened when she saw that the necklace was a an inch long white gold crescent moon attached to a small sapphire star, and that along the moon's outer edge it was engraved with a name. It read Ariana Dumbledore. Ariana felt her eyes water a little and wiped the tears away hoping Neville hadn't seen, although he most likely had.

"That was Aberforth's," Neville began. "He always kept it with him and clutched it when your aunt's name came up. It's a mokeskin pouch and only it's owner can open it, the fact that you can proves that you own all this now. I think you should wear it, I think he would have wanted you to."

"Yeah," Ariana mumbled, putting the necklace around her neck with Neville's help. "We can use this for the gold too, for now anyway, since I don't have anything else to put in here."

"Good idea," Neville said.

Ariana and Neville filled the mokeskin pouch with the galleons and made their way out of the vault. They took the cart back up to the marble chamber and Ariana got her key back. They left Gringotts with their goal accomplished but Ariana couldn't help but feel a little sad at leaving all that information of her family behind. They walked swiftly out of the silver doors then the bronze doors into the open air of Diagon Alley. They mumbled their farewells to the goblins at the first set of doors and left the property, with Ariana very anxious for their next stop.

They walked to quite a few minutes before reaching a dark colored shop with its name gleaming in bright golden letters.

"Welcome, Ms. Dumbledore." Neville said smiling at Ariana. "To Ollivander's. It's time for you to get your wand.

~*~*~*~

Hey every one,

Sorry it took so long I will try to be quicker next time. Next chapter is focused on Ollivander's and the Magical Menagerie. Hope you liked this chapter, by the way let me know if you know whether the mokeskin pouch is invisible to everyone but the wearer/owner. I wasn't sure but if you know for sure let me know and I will edit it. R&R if you want and P.S. I wrote the sorting hat's song already =]

Becca


	5. The fortune and the willow wand

Magical Encounters

Chapter Five: The Fortune and the willow wand.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hp

Ariana took a deep breath and made her way toward the shop in front of her with Neville following close behind. As she reached the threshold the dim lighting of the shop shown down on her face and the smell of wood gently wafted into her nostrils. She hesitated slightly at the door desperately wanting to go inside the shop but being deathly afraid to take even a single step forward. Ariana felt a squeeze on her shoulder and looked up to see Neville smiling down at her.

"Don't worry," he said. "Nothing bad will happen here. Beside if anything does happen, you've got me to get us through whatever comes our way."

"It's just," Ariana began, looking up at him. "This place, I feel like something has happened here. Something bad. It's like some feeling deep inside me and I can't really figure out why I feel the way I do but it's as if I can see that some form of…of evil…. Has left it's mark here."

"There was a kidnapping here," Neville said. "the owner got taken by a dark wizard. But that happened many years ago, all the kidnappings stopped once Vo…. Uh, you know what Ari don't sweat it. The point is bad things don't happen very often anymore so there is no need for you to be scared."

Ariana nodded, but still somewhat reluctant, she walked slowly into the shop. Inside was a wooden counter behind which stood shelves and shelves of tiny little boxes. Ariana's curiosity got the best of her and her timid steps became strides toward the counter, all the feelings she had previously experienced fading into simple background noise in her mind.

Ariana and Neville waited in front of the counter for a small moment before a Tiny little old man walked up through the aisles of shelves and met them with a huge smile on his face. Ariana uncertainly smiled back at him.

"Hello there," He said in a small and raspy voice. His eyes locked onto Ariana's and his smile grew as if he had just encountered a diamond in a pile of coal. "I will take a guess to say that you, young lady are here for a wand."

"Yes," Ariana whispered as if she was afraid of hurting the fragile little man in front of her. She cleared her throat and spoke again, this time at a normal volume. "Yes, um, I'm Ariana Dumbledore."

"Ms. Dumbledore," He said softly as his eyes widened. "I can't tell you how long I have been waiting for you."

Ariana blinked. She looked up and Neville, her eyes questioning. Unfortunately he looked as confused as she felt and was simply staring the old man with his mouth slightly agape. She looked back at the man to see him gathering some boxes and bringing them up to the counter.

"Now don't look so alarmed my dear," He spoke trying not to laugh at the expressions of his customers. "I am Ollivander and I am going to help you get the wand that is meant for you. Now may I ask you to be my audience for a story?"

"Sure." Ariana replied numbly still a little confused.

"Well Ms. Dumbledore, about thirty-five years ago your uncle Albus Dumbledore came to me. He said that a trusted friend of his foretold that in time a young woman of blood relation to him was going to come to me, looking for a wand. He also told me, that for this young woman, there would be no wand. For you see, Ms. Dumbledore it is not the witch that chooses the wand, but the wand that chooses the witch. He told me that it was prophesized that no wand of normal materials would choose this child. And if no wand chose her then it would lead to a danger beyond measure.

He said and I quote, 'that if no wand chose this child then history would repeat itself'. Now at first Ms. Dumbledore, I did not realize how I could be involved in this prophesy but then Albus confided in me that he had found materials that would fit this young woman. He then asked me for a favor, and the favor was for me to make a wand from the materials he gave me and keep the wand stored until the child came to find me. That, is what I did and I now have that wand sitting here on this counter waiting for you to try it out."

Ariana looked up at him as he finished his story with wide eyes and a huge smile on her face. Her hands almost instantly shot up to the counter and she realized how rude her gesture might seem just in time to pretend she brought her hands up to fiddle with her hair.

"So," Ariana began in a smooth voice acting as if nothing had happened. "Um, which one is it?"

"Well," Ollivander began. "I was hoping you would indulge me by trying out all the wands laid out here. I want to see if it's true that no wand of ordinary means would work for you. The last one we try will be the wand that was made especially made for you. Now, shall we begin."

"Yea sure." Ariana said, a little let down that she was going to have to wait to get to her wand.

Without any further words between them, Ollivander handed Ariana the first wand. She took it firmly in her hands and just looked at it expectantly. After about a moment, she put it down on the counter and shrugged her shoulders.

"Sorry, Mr. Ollivander," Ariana said frowning. "But that wand didn't feel right at all."

Mr. Ollivander nodded and handed her the next one. Ariana took it eagerly and felt her heart drop. She shivered and looked at the wand with disgust as she put it down. She looked up at Ollivander who was gazing at her with confused eyes.

"Mr. Ollivander," Ariana whispered. "That wand is going to go to some one bad. I can feel it."

Ollivander looked at her with wonder in his eyes before saying, "It is not the wand that makes some one good or evil, it is the soul of the person itself." With those words he handed her the last wand, the special wand.

Ariana took it quickly and gasped as an electric shock went through her body. She felt as if there was fire and power riding with the blood in her veins. Ariana closed her eyes and she could feel everything on and around her, from the tips of her toes to the ends of the golden hair.

""Whoa!" Neville exclaimed , knocking Ariana out of her trance like state. "Ari, you look like you're on fire."

Ariana opened her eyes and looked down at herself. Sure enough she saw a flickering orange glow around her body. She gasped and put the wand down on the counter, making the glow fade away. She looked up and Ollivander and smiled.

"This is the one Mr. Ollivander, I can feel it." Ariana said, a giant smile on her face."

"Indeed it is, Ms. Dumbledore." Ollivander began. "You know, Albus personally gave me a feather from his phoenix as well as bark from the Whomping Willow tree on the Hogwarts campus. No other wand has ever been made from this wood, it was thought to be too hard to tame. But of course, if anyone could control it a Dumbledore could. Well, it's ten inches and very flexible, but as for the exact properties, they are a mystery waiting to unfold."

"Thank you Mr. Ollivander." Ariana said. "Do you know anything more about the story?"

"Unfortunately no my dear," He began. "But that does not mean that the story ends here."

Ariana nodded as she picked up her wand and put it in her pocket feeling the surge of energy from touching it. She watched Neville thank Mr. Ollivander and began to reach for the mokeskin pouch on her chest when she heard Ollivander say that everything had already been paid for. With that, Ariana and Neville were off, and although Ariana didn't know where they were going to go next, she didn't care. Ariana had a wand now and that meant that nothing was going to stop her from going to Hogwarts and finding out her past.


	6. WWW and The Magical Menagerie

Magical Encounters

Chapter six: WWW and The Magical Menagerie.

Disclaimer: I don't own Hp

"Robes?" Neville questioned looking at the supplies list he held in his hands.

"Check." Ariana replied checking the bag from Madam Malkin's.

"Spell books?"

"Check. All of them."

"Potion ingredients?"

"Check."

"Ok," Neville began folding the paper and stuffing it into his pocket. "We got everything that you are going to need for your first year at Hogwarts."

"So," Ariana started. "I guess we are done huh?"

"Not quite," Neville said as he smiled down at Ariana. "There are a couple more stops I believe we should make. These last stops aren't anything necessary but I think that every Hogwarts student needs to make a trip to these stores. Lets go this way first."

Ariana nodded as Neville began to lead her down the road of Diagon Alley. They walked briskly for about three minutes before Ariana caught view of a rather interesting looking shop that was directly in the path she and Neville were taking. Even from the outside the shop screamed individuality with a giant and colorful letter W right above the door. As they neared it Ariana looked up at Neville only to see that his smile had not left his face and in fact had only gotten bigger as they neared the shop.

They reached the threshold of the shop and Neville opened up the door for Ariana ushering her in as if he couldn't wait to get there himself. When Ariana went inside her jaw dropped. Everywhere she there were stacks upon stacks of colorful products on shelves. Ariana looked up to the ceiling to see that the ceiling itself was almost completely covered with posters. It was as she was looking up at the ceiling that she heard a loud, booming voice scream 'watch out!', which caused her to duck just as something whizzed past her. In the squatted she had put herself in, Ariana lost her balance and landed with a loud thump on her behind just as a tall red headed man rushed toward her.

"Er, hi." The man said, leaning down to offer Ariana a hand which she more than happily took. "Sorry about that, just a new product I'm trying out. It's called- well, uh I don't really know what it's called quite yet."

"It's ok." Ariana said quickly looking at her feet before looking up to the man and smiling uncertainly just as Neville met up with them after being distracted by a product.

"George!" Neville said, hugging the man. "How are you? Man, the shop looks great! I saw the new fireworks and they look awesome. Oh! But where are my manners. This is Ariana Dumbledore and she is coming to Hogwarts this year."

"Oh," George started. "Well Hello then I'm George Weasley, the owner of this fine establishment, Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes."

"Hi," Ariana replied timidly.

"So a Dumbledore huh? Well, I got two kids in Hogwarts myself. Roxie is going into her first year just like you and Fred is going into his third. They are around her somewhere actually." George walked to the stairs a few paces beside them and looked up. "Roxie! Fred! Come down here, there is someone who wants to meet you!"

"Well that's good." Neville said, as Roxanne and Fred walked downstairs and introduced themselves to Ariana. "At least now you will know some one on the train to Hogwarts. Ok, well why don't you kids go hang out and I will talk to George for a little while. Ari I will come find you when its time for us to go."

Ariana nodded and she and the kids walked away, happily chatting. Neville turned to George who gestured to a table in a corner of the shop. They walked to the table and sat down across from one another.

"So Neville," George began. "A Dumbledore huh? Who would have thought that Aberforth could find himself a lady? Not me. But, uh, why are you taking her around? You know, isn't that usually a family thing?"

"Aberforth was the only family she had." Neville said, his voice proving that there was sadness in his story. "He died eleven years ago, around the same time she was born. I have no idea about what happened to her mother. My guess is that she has lived in an orphanage her entire life."

"That blows," George began, making Neville blink up at him. "She looks so much like the picture of his little sister, it would have meant the world to Aberforth to see her. Too bad he didn't get the chance."

"Yeah."

"Have you told her yet? About Dumbledore and you-know-who? I know that things are different these days but I think she should know why everyone is going to be in awe of her last name."

"Yeah, I know I have to tell her. I just don't know how. But I will do it, eventually."

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Ohmigosh!" Ariana said as she and Neville reached a shop called the Magical Menagerie. "Roxanne and Fred told me about this place. Am I allowed to get a pet? That would be so awesome! I have always wanted a cat."

Neville smiled at her and lead her inside.

Ariana took in everything she could. The smells, the noises, and all the animals. She was walking through the aisles quickly while still keeping an eye out for any cat that truly caught her eye. She had walked through all the aisles of the store, and was disappointed. There was no cat that caught her eye and on top of that she had lost site of Neville. Again.

Ariana was just about to give up and walk outside when she saw her. There were a stack of cages on one corner of the store and although most were filed with old owls and fat rats, there was one cage in which lay a small little white kitten. Ariana walked up to the cage and read the sign beside it.

'_Hi there, I'm Abby. I'm 8 months old but I haven't grown in size since I was four months old. If you want to adopt me then I won't cost you much, but it's been speculated that I was charmed at birth and no one is sure what that might mean in the future'_

Ariana looked at Abby. The cat had gotten up now and was looking at her curiously with my innocent looking blue eyes. Ariana smiled at the cat and leaned her head in closer to the cage and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath in and suddenly felt an odd feeling on her forehead. She opened her eyes to find that Abby had started licking her forehead and from that instantly she was sold.

Ariana picked up the cage carefully and called out for Neville until she found him. He stepped out of some random aisle and walked her up to the counter. Ariana's excitement grew as the lady supplied her with all that she would need to take care of Abby for a year at school. Ariana took her mokeskin pouch out to pay the lady and was stopped, by Neville.

"Think of this as a gift," Neville said while handing the money to the woman at the counter. "You're birthday is on the 1st of September anyway right? Well that's not too far away so just think of this as your birthday present."

Ariana hugged Neville tightly and when they left the store she couldn't help but smile as she held the cage of her new companion. She and Neville walked through Diagon Alley quickly and toward its entrance. They reached the pub and with a wave to Hannah set off toward Neville's car. The ride was silent and when they reached the orphanage Ariana was surprised to find that Neville was not leaving the car.

"Ari," Neville began. "I will be back for you on September first to take you to the train station. Make sure you pack everything in your trunk and have Abby in her cage by nine o'clock. The train leaves at eleven but it will take us a while to get there so please be prompt. I will see you soon Ari."

Ari waved as he rode away but the instant he was gone he turned tail and ran into the orphanage. She was, of course, very excited about showing everyone her things but more than that, she was terrified. It was around six thirty by the looks of things and that meant that dinner had been served and Ariana wasn't at the table. Mary was going to be furious and not wanting to make matters worse Ariana bolted into the house and made her way to her room and down to the table as quickly as possible.

* * *

Hey everyone it's Becca. I'm so glad I have been writing lately its exciting. But anyway I don't know how often I'm going to write but I hope you all like it. Next time is the train ride. =] see ya.


	7. The Hogwarts Express

**Magical Encounters**

**Chapter Seven- The Hogwarrt's Express**

**Disclaimer- you know it **

**Ariana grunted as she pushed down the last of her spell books and pulled down the lid of her trunk. She got up from her previously crouching position and looked down at the trunk warily. Ariana had stuffed so much into it that she was deathly afraid the lid would pop open at any minute. As if to reassure her Abby jumped onto the trunk and patted it with her paw while looking up at Ariana. Ariana smiled down at her and then quickly scooped Abby into her arms and hugged her as tightly as she could without hurting her. Ariana laid down on the bed and put Abby on her stomach gently sneaking a quick look to her clock. **

"**Only half an hour more Abby." Ariana said smiling at the kitten, who by this point was lying on her back and biting her own tail. "I think we should probably go downstairs and say good-bye to everyone."**

**Ariana put abby in her kitty carrier promptly and took her downstairs. She had to return to her bedroom one last time to get her trunk and as she shut the door she felt only a second of doubt and that was followed by a wave of excitement. Downstairs everyone was waiting for her on the foyer. Ariana went around one by one hugging everyone and saying good-bye and receiving many in return. Mary was crying and as Ariana approached her the tears came more quickly.**

"**Swear you will send a letter home at least every two weeks." Mary said, embracing Ariana tightly. **

"**Sure," Ariana replied, smiling up at Mary. "I promise I will. Don't worry Mary, Everything is going to fine."**

"**Okay kiddo," Mary began just as they heard a car pull up to the driveway of the orphanage. "That's him I guess. Let me help you get outside honey."**

**Mary helped carry Ariana's luggage to Neville's car and even managed a smile in his direction. She helped Ariana into the car and handed her Abby's carrier before speaking. "Listen Ari, you better watch yourself in this school, ok? Make sure you hang out with the right type of people. I love you Ari and you are amazing, never forget that ok? Good luck honey."**

**Mary smiled at Ariana and shut the door quickly, tears welling up in her eyes once again. Ariana waved good-bye fighting back her own tears until she felt the car start and her excitement build up again. Neville waved a quick good-bye and then they were off. **

**They rode in silence for some time before Neville handed her something which Ariana quickly read. It was a train ticket and Something on it made her read it more than twice before looking a Neville in confusion and speaking to him. "Wait, Neville, there is something wrong here. This says that the train is at platform nine and three quarters. How is that possible?"**

"**It's through a wall," Neville said smoothly, oblivious to the panic that was clear on Ariana's face. "Between platforms nine and ten. But don't worry it's not dangerous and I will be there with you."**

"**Okay," Ariana mumbled not entirely reassured. **

* * *

**Neville and Ariana reached the train station at ten minutes till eleven and they very quickly made their way toward the platform. When they reached the proper place Neville stopped and looked seriously at Ariana. "Now what you have to do, and don't freak when I tell you, is run straight through that wall. Now don't worry you won't feel anything."**

"**Uh, okay." Ariana whispered clutching tightly to the cart which was carrying all her luggage. She took a deep breath in and made like she was going to go through the wall but backed out before she even moved. **_**You can do this, Ari, come on! **_**She thought to herself before breathing in and dashing toward the wall. She closed her eyes just as she hit the wall- but she didn't hit the wall, she went right through it. **

**Ariana opened her eyes to find a giant train in front of her. Her mouth hung agape for a while until Neville came behind her and lead her through the array of people toward the trains entrance. They walked in and Neville assured Ariana that he had put her trunk in the appropriate destination and that it would be ready for her when she reached the school. "Now listen, Ari, you can keep Abby with you and just let her loose on the ground so just leave your carrier on the train and it will see it's way to the school. Now, regrettably I must leave you. I have to see the other teachers. Most of the compartments will be full by now but I think you might be able to find Roxanne and Fred. See you at school and don't forget to put your robes on before getting off the train."**

**Before Ariana had any chance to speak Neville was hurrying down the corridor of the train in what Ariana guessed was the opposite direction of where she should go. With that in mind Ariana set off down the corridor and tried looking for a familiar face in the compartments around her. Ariana walked for some time before she felt the train lurch to life. She was just about to give up when , in her peripheral vision, she saw a compartment filled almost entirely with redheads.**

**She knocked on the door timidly and it was opened by a small boy sitting nearest to the edge. Ariana looked around at the group and smiled before speaking. "Hey I can tell this place is full, but I just wanted to say hello again to Roxie and Fred. So, um, hi."**

"**Hey!" Roxanne exclaimed. "Guys this is the girl we were talking to you about. Ariana this is Rosie, Albus, James, and Lucy." **

**There was a soft chorus of hellos and briefly exchanged pleasantries, but before long Ariana knew that she should find a place to sit on her own and let Abby out. She waved good-bye and continued down the corridor. Ariana was walking quickly, looking down at her feet, when the train suddenly lurched forward and Ariana was propelled onto something. **

**Not something, some one. **

**Ariana groaned and put her hands down around the being she had toppled onto and lifted herself up. She looked down at her victim and nearly lost her hold on the ground. An incredibly adorable boy was underneath her and laughing joyously, showing off his amazing smile. Ariana stood up and held out her hand to him mumbling sorry to her feet as he pulled himself up with her assistance.**

"**Hey there," He said softly, still chuckling slightly. "Are you okay? By the way don't even worry, that was kinda fun and besides you're cute so I don't see how this was a bad thing."**

"**uh," Ariana stuttered. "Okay. I'm Ariana."**

"**I'm Drake Zambini," He stated in a cool voice. "Now no offense, but you look like you need some where to sit. I think I can help you. follow me."**

**Ariana followed Drake to a compartment a little further down the corridor and he opened the door and lead her inside. There were three people in the compartment. One was a stunning black-haired girl who looked up at Ariana quickly and raised an eyebrow. She was pale and perfectly fit, a trait which the boy beside her was carefully admiring with his eyes. The boy himself was quite attractive and didn't even lift up his copper head to acknowledge Ariana. **

**Ariana couldn't get a clear view of the third boy who was sitting near the window next to the brown haired boy until she herself had slid into the seat across from him. She heard Drake introducing her to the other two and saying that their names were Brooke and Tyler but she barely acknowledged him. Because at that moment the third boy had looked up from the window right at Ariana. **

**Ariana was captivated. The boy was very nearly perfect. He has a strong bone structure with soft features that she could see were contrasted against the hardness seen in his eyes. Oh and the eyes! They were grey and the most intense she had ever seen. The grey sparkled in the light of the compartment as he shook his golden honey blond hair out of his eyes. It fell in quiet waves along his face and forehead shinning beautifully against his bronze tan skin. **

**He locked eyes with Ariana sharply and she had to stifle a gasp as she noticed that amid the grey pools that were his eyes there were specks blue near the center. He glanced at her up and down before looking up at her nervous expression and allowing his thin mouth to settle into a smirk. Ariana heard Drake say that he hadn't met this boy before but it seemed as if he was a million miles away.**

**The boy looked at drake and held up a hand. "I'm Scorpius Malfoy. Nice to meet you." He looked at Ariana whose stomach dropped. "And you are?"**

"**I…" Ariana started before swallowing and trying again. "I'm Ariana. Um, do you lot mind if I let my cat out?"**

**Everyone shook their heads and Ariana the cat carrier. Abby jumped out and onto Ariana's lap, laying down and proceeding with her grooming. Ariana looked up to see that Brooke and Tyler had begun talking to one another and Drake was looking at her kindly. **

"**So," he began. "What year are you in? I'm a second year student and both of them are in their third" - He gestured to Brooke and Tyler- "and we met each other last year. We are all in Slytherin."**

**Scorpius spoke first. "This is my first year." He lounged back lazily against his seat. "I'm expecting to be in Slytherin. Not like there is any chance I will be in anything else. My father was in Slytherin and so was my mum so that's where I'm going."**

"**I'm a first year too," Ariana began. "But, uh, what is Slytherin?"**

"**It's a house," Drake answered as Ariana started to pet Abby. "In Hogwarts there are four houses. Slytherin is one of them. The houses are like groups that divide the students. Each house has it's own dormitories and common room. In general I guess most people interact the most with their own house. At the end of the year there is a point count and a competition, you get points for loads of things throughout the year."**

**Ariana nodded at him and looked at Scorpius, who had a look on his face that Ariana couldn't quiet describe. "Are you a muggle-born?" **

"**if you are asking whether my parents were muggles," Ariana began. "Then the answer is no. I don't know anything about my mum but my dad was a wizard. I'm only confused because I was brought up in a orphanage."**

**Scorpius nodded looked away as if he was thinking about something. **_**That's what it was. **_**Ariana thought. **_**Before, he looked at me with disdain. I bet he has been raised to think magical folk are better than muggles. He acts cool but I bet he is freaking out about being in Slytherin or whatever. His dad seems like the kind that wants him in a certain spot and that's it. Actually it's as if he can't even start to believe that he will be anywhere else. He knows its unacceptable.**_

_**Ariana looked at Scorpius and noticed that he was looking back at her. She smiled encouragingly and hoped he would make conversation. Scorpius smirked at her and looked away, making Ariana think that the closest he ever got to a smile was that handsome smirk. Ariana looked down at Abby who was now asleep and resolutely decided to close her eyes and lean against the window.**_

_**Ariana woke when Drake shook her shoulders lightly and told her that she should put on her robes. Ariana got up to do just that when she realized with a shock that Abby wasn't on her lap anymore. Just as she was about to start asking what happened she looked at Scorpius and her heart melted.**_

_**Scorpius was already dressed in his robes. He was leaning against the window asleep. He looked like an angel as his hair came down softly across his face. However, what really made Ariana smile was the fact that across Scorpius' lap lay Abby with her head cupped in on of his hands. His other hand was on her tiny body and they looked like a match made in heaven **_

_**Ariana chuckled to herself and showed Drake the scene. They both smiled at each other and pulled on their robes. In the hustle and bustle of all the noise Ariana watched as Scorpius' eyes slowly opened and he yawned and stretched himself out a little bit. He looked down at Abby who was also waking up and stretching. He smiled down at her. Ariana's heart fluttered, his smile was beautiful. **_

_**Ariana was still looking at him when he looked up and handed her Abby. He smirked at Ariana and , as the train slowed to a stop, he walked past her only quickly locking eyes with her. Ariana watched him as he went keeping her expression blank so she wouldn't look pathetic and then she herself left the compartment. As Ariana made her way through the train corridor through the mass of students she felt her excitement build up again within her. Her mind flowed away from Scorpius and she continued to feel her anxiety grow but none of that mattered.**_

_**She was finally here. **_


	8. The Sorting

Magical Encounters

Chapter eight- The Sorting

As the crowd congealed around the exit of the train Ariana was shoved through the opening roughly and stumbled awkwardly off the train before righting herself and attempting to play it off as a jump with a bad landing. She heard a snicker to her left and whirled around suddenly terrified that someone was going to start calling her a Klutz. Her eyes wandered around crazily for a moment before locking on a pair of bright brown eyes.

"Roxie!" Arianna yelled, tightening her hold on the kitten in her arms before walking hurriedly to Roxanne. "Thank gosh that was just you. I thought for sure some stranger had seen me fall, just then."

Roxanne looked at her with a look of mock astonishment. "You fell? Really? I didn't even notice."

"Ha ha, very funny." Ariana began, before she noticed that the boy who had previously been introduced to her as Albus was standing at Roxanne's hip. He was trying very hard not to call attention to himself and that just made Ariana want to talk to him even more. "Hi, Albus right?"

The boy looked up from the ground in horror, his eyes as wide as saucers. He opened his mouth as if to say something, and then shut it quickly looking anywhere but at Ariana. Ariana raised her eyebrows and looked back to Roxanne, who was looking at Albus with sympathy. "Sorry Ariana, Albus tends to be a little shy."

"No worries," Ariana said, smiling at Albus. "I think shy people are really just people who are afraid to talk because their awesomeness might be too much for the world to handle."

Albus made a quiet choking noise and Ariana saw his shoulders shake slightly. _Yes, _Ariana thought _I made him laugh._ The thought filled her with happiness. Ariana knew what it was like to be shy and even though she had gotten better over the years she still had moments where she stayed silent in the presence of others.

Ariana looked around them and noticed that the crowd coming out of the train was beginning to thin. She noticed that the crowd had split into two groups and she cocked her head to the side before focusing in on Roxanne once again. "What's going on right now? Where are we anyway?"

"This is Hogsmead station." Albus said looking at Ariana fiercely, making Roxanne jump back as if she had never heard his voice before. "Hogsmead is like a little town near the school's ground. There is all type of stuff here, but we only get to visit in third year."

"Um, yeah." Roxanne said, still a little shocked. "The people going that way"-She gestured to a mass of people gathering to their left- "are returning students second year and up. And the people going over here"- she drew an invisible circle around them- "are first years. Although, there should be someon-"

Roxanne was interrupted by a booming voice. "First years ov'r here. First years this way."

Ariana looked to find the source of the voice as she, Albus, and Roxanne stepped off toward the crowd of first years simultaneously. Ariana didn't have to look for long before she saw that source of the loud voice. He was the only adult within the crowd of children but that's not what drew Ariana's attention. The characteristic that made Ariana's mouth drop open in shock was not his beard or unkempt dark hair. What caught her attention was his size.

"Is he a giant?" Ariana whispered as the man began to lead the first years away from the station.

Roxanne shrugged her shoulders. "Only half giant, that's Hagrid."

As if sensing Ariana's confusion Albus spoke again. "He is a teacher at the school but he is also the gamekeeper. He's really nice. Our dads know him from when they were in school."

"How are you guys related anyway?" Ariana questioned as the crowd of students neared their destination and stopped.

Roxanne opened her mouth as if to speak but shut it quickly as Hagrid began to speak. "Alright. Yer the first years, huh?" There was a murmur that spilled throughout the crowd. "Well itsa tradition here that firs' years go up to the school by a boat ride across the Black lake. So, err, get a group together and um get in a boat."

Ariana, Roxanne, and Albus walked through the crowd quickly not exactly knowing who else to sit with. As they neared the lake Ariana reached the shore first where an empty boat waited. She reached out a hand to pull the boat closer to her when the water's gleam caught her attention.

She looked out at the water and cocked her head to the side. The lake was a huge expanse of dark water which shone in the moonlight. Its surface was smooth like that of a mirror except for the spots where some boats floated on the surface. As Roxanne and Albus climbed onto the boat Ariana began to climb into the small wooden boat only to look out across the lake to see a tail swish. She looked again after settling into the boat, but the tail was gone.

Roxanne was about to push the boat off the shore when a figure came running up to them. "Hey guys. Sorry I lost you before." The girl climbed into the boat and smiled at Ariana while patting down her curly mousy brown hair. She looked up toward the sky and took a deep breath as if to calm herself. Her dark green eyes glinted in the moonlight before she shut them, basking in the light of the stars.

"Hey Rosie," Albus said with a smile before turning toward Ariana. "You met rose right? On the train? Well, she's my cousin and so is Roxanne, we have a really big family."

"That's so cool," Ariana said before mumbling. "I wish I had family like that."

At that point Rose was done basking in the moonlight and pointed toward something in the distance. "I don't mean to interrupt but look."

Three heads snapped to the direction Rose had pointed out and instantly Ariana gasped. There on a cliff across the lake was an enormous castle. It was made of what Ariana guessed was black stone and towers jutted out of it in different places. Lights were shinning through windows placed all around the castle and Ariana could feel her excitement building up within her.

The cliff on which the Hogwarts campus resided sloped down into a flat shore on which the boats slowly pulled up to. Ariana's boat hit the shore lightly and she climbed out quickly enough that her companions were still just standing by the time her feet hit the green grass on the shore of the lake. She hurried forward with the other first years before stopping herself and waiting for her new friends to catch up. The three cousins reached Ariana and all four of them set off toward the castle following closely behind Hagrid.

The group walked up toward the castle in near silence, only their shoes make scuffling noises in the grass. All the first years then reached a dirt path which led up a slope to what Ariana believed must be the main entrance to the school. All around her Ariana saw trees, some of them reaching up toward the sky while others squatted pathetically toward the ground. She continuously glanced around her, looking at her peers trying to see if she had seen any of them on the train.

The crowd itself stopped in front of huge doors which seemed to be made of a dark wood. Ariana looked at them in wonder. There were many designs on the doors all carved beautifully into the wood itself. Ariana cocked her head at the many creatures that were carved into the stone, most of them she had never seen before. Hagrid brought the crowd to a stop in front of those large, dark double doors and turned to face them.

"Alrigh'," he began clearing his throat loudly to get everyone's attention. "We are going to go through these doors into the school now. Once we reach the great hall another teacher will you yer how the sorting goes on. Stay close to me in there and don't wander off."

He turned back to the doors and as if on cue they opened slowly, revealing a brightly lit room. He stepped through the doors and gestured for the first years to follow. Ariana instantly took in her surroundings as she passed the threshold of the school. The tiles on the floor shown as if they had been recently waxed, and the stone walls were covered on all sides by paintings which, Ariana could tell from just a cursory glance, were all moving. Above Ariana hung beautiful chandeliers which used candles to illuminate the scene beneath them.

"They must be old fashioned here." Ariana said to herself not expecting anyone to answer.

"Look like it, huh?" Albus said from her side at which point Ariana noticed that they had separated from Rose and Roxanne. "I think it's nice though."

Ariana smiled at him, glad to see he was making conversation before a question bubbled through her. "So, do you want to be in Slytherin too?"

"What?!" Albus whispered, looking horrified. "Of course not. Why? Do you?"

"I don't know I just heard that it was a good house or whatever." Ariana replied calmly.

"It's not Ariana." Albus looked at her sternly before continuing. "Slytherins call themselves cunning and keen- minded, but in truth, although they might be all those things, they aren't very nice."

Ariana cocked her head at Albus, her thoughts going to Drake on the train and his kind smile. "What do you mean? The guy I met on the train seemed nice enough."

"Well, not all Slytherins are mean but the truth is that almost every bad witch or wizard has been in Slytherin. I mean, you–know-who was in Slytherin, and he was evil. But also they tend to think they are better than everyone else. You know how there are muggle borns that can get magical powers?"- Ariana nodded- "Well, a lot of Slytherins are pure-blooded which means that a lot of them have only had magical people in their family for a long time. That makes them think they are better than other people. Even half-bloods in Slytherin sometimes make fun of muggle borns, even though they themselves aren't purely magical."

Ariana looked at Albus for long time, his tiny face intent on making her believe what he was saying. "So what house do you want to be in?"

"Gryffindor of course," Albus beamed at Ariana. "Where the brave and loyal reside, but there are other house too. Don't worry; the sorting hat will put you in the right house Ariana."

Before Ariana could ask what he meant, the crowd of first years stopped and Ariana looked forward to see the double doors in front of her open to let Hagrid inside and another friendly face outside. The man who stepped out smiled brightly at the students and stepped nearer to them only to get caught on the hem of his robes and stumble slightly.

He chuckled slightly at himself before straightening. "Hello everyone, I'm professor Longbottom. In a moment these doors behind me will open and you lot will enter the great hall. Inside the hall there are four tables representing the four houses, and further into the hall, on a slightly raised platform is the staff table. Once inside you will all stand in the middle of the hall. I will then step in front of you and call your names one by one to be sorted into one of the four houses. The houses of Godric Gryffindor, Rowena Ravenclaw, Helga Hufflepuff, or Salazar Slytherin. Follow me inside now so we may begin."

Ariana saw the doors open quietly and a nervous whisper went through the crowd. Ariana felt her own nerves bubble up inside her as she stepped inside the great hall and took note of her surroundings. There were, as Neville had said four long tables going length-wise down the hall. These tables were filled with empty goblets and plates and bowls as well as the other students who looked at the first years curiously.

On the raised platform sat the teachers on only one side of their table looking out into the mass of students. In the center sat an old woman who looked very intently at the new students. However, in front of that platform, was a hat placed simply on top of a stool. Ariana stared at it for a moment wondering if this was some kind of initiation joke. Neville stepped up and stood next to the stool with a roll of parchment on his hands. He stared out at the students excitedly and just as a soft murmur had started to spread among the first years, the old, wrinkly brown hat perked up and moved a little.

The hat took a second to clear its throat before beginning to speak, causing Ariana to gasp and let Abby fall from her arms in surprise. The hat said- no sang- in a raspy yet clear voice:

Today we gather here

In these so hallowed halls

And you may be surprised

That I can sort you all.

For those of kind and loyal heart

You will be sure to find

The fair and patient Hufflepuffs

Will surely be your kind.

While those of you who long to learn

And hold wisdom so high

Will find that clever Ravenclaws

Are those with which you lie.

Or maybe some of you will see

That Slytherin's your home

Where those of cunning, sneaky minds

Prefer things left unknown.

As of yet you might have found

That none of these three houses

Fit your brave and chivalrous heart

Thus Gryffindor arises.

Now nearly twenty years ago

These houses stood divided

Then when the greatest danger called

They fought and stood united.

Nowadays the houses drift

Back to where they were

While I sit here sorting you all

And praying to be heard.

We must stay together

And unified for good

I hope that that you will listen

As well, I know you should.

But looking at the task at hand

The sorting must be started

So pull me snug about your ears

I'll never be outsmarted.

Let me see your deepest fears

And the things for which you long

And I will listen to you dears

And put you where you belong.

There was scattered applause throughout the room as people reacted to the song. Ariana stood in the throng of first years with her mouth agape and eyes wide. Her shock had only begun to fade away when Neville cleared his throat and spoke to the students. "I will call your name and you will sit here"-he indicated to the stool- "while I put the sorting hat upon your head. After deliberating within your mind, the sorting hat will shout out the house you belong to and you will step down from the stool and walk to your new house as indicated by the banners above you. Now let's begin."

Ariana looked up at the ceiling to find that banners hung above the four house tables. These banners not only had the name of the house by its symbol as well. Ariana was taking a mental note to ask someone how the banners and the candles held themselves up without strings and how the ceiling looked like the beautiful night sky, when she heard her name being called.

Ariana blinked and looked at Albus, who had a shocked expression on his face. She walked through the crowd of first years to the stool and all around her whispers jumped around. _A Dumbledore? How is that possible? ___Some kids said, while others simply looked at her in shock. She reached Neville quickly and sat down as her beamed at her. The faces in front of her were all curious as she felt the hat be slip onto her head.

_A Dumbledore huh? _The hat said inside her mind. _Well you certainly don't feel like one. So much darkness and stolen memories lay here in your head. A cloudy past as well, no mother and a dead father. What do you have to say for yourself girl? Anything you think I shall hear it?_

_I lived in an orphanage all my life and I often have dreams that I can't understand but I don't think I'm a dark person. _Ariana thought defiantly. _I mean, sure I have made mistakes but I'm I nice person. _

_You personality indeed shines like any other. But your soul, it is unclean and unnatural. As is your body, you are an anomaly. A controversy within yourself. I kind heart however does not compensate for a dark soul, and as I have said you indeed have a dark soul. One full of fear and hatred and even death._

_But, _Ariana began._ I have never even seen death. _

_But your soul has. Perhaps it is a past life slipping out of the seams of this life, but as it is you yourself might be engulfed in darkness if you do not learn how to control these dreams. These dreams that I can see here, in your head. Ariana Dumbledore there is darkness within you and it seems as though the contrast of your heart to your soul makes you very difficult to place. Not a Hufflepuff for you are anything but ordinary, and although you have the potentially for brilliance the Ravenclaws will never give you what you need to past the demons of your past. The Gryffindors will accept you for whatever you are, but what you need is not acceptance, but strength. Strength to face the battles that are sure to come in your future. To overcome the obstacles you are sure to face in the future you must first face the smaller obstacles of finding where you belong in the world and face those against you in every aspect of your life. Survive the hardships that will come with this year, and you will find a way to unlock your past and clear the darkness in your soul so that you may face your future._

_Wait. _Ariana thought. _If I'm not in Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw that that means-_

"Slytherin!" The sorting hat's voice called out to the Great Hall and Ariana felt the hat being lifted off her head.

Ariana rose off the stool and looked up at Neville who seemed as stunned as she felt. She walked toward the Slytherin table looking straight ahead to avoiding looking at the numerous faces who were staring at her in bewilderment. In the background she heard Neville clear his throat and call the next student to the stool. Ariana reached the table and sat down numbly watching as the sorting continued. Albus, Rose, and Roxanne were all put into Gryffindor where they were warmly welcomed by some of the other people Ariana had met on the train. She guessed they were all either related or childhood friends.

Ariana became aware that many of the Slytherins were glaring at her. She resolutely stared at the sorting and hoped that they would get the message and look away. Then, she noticed one particular face that was staring at her from the crowd of first years. Scorpius. He walked up to Neville quickly and sat on the stool. The hat had barely touched his head when it yelled out Slytherin and he came down to the table and sat beside Ariana. He was smirking, obviously pleased with himself and Ariana looked at him out of the corner of her eye.

The sorting went on for a while longer before Neville rolled up the scroll and went up to the staff table sitting down quickly and turning his attention to the woman who was now standing and going up to a wooden podium that had appeared magically in front of her. She looked around the room and cleared her throat which silenced the entire hall all at once.

She smiled briskly and looked out to her students, her square framed glasses glinting in the candlelight. "First years welcome, everyone else welcome back. As always I am glad to be starting a new term with you. I am Professor McGonagall, the headmistress here at Hogwarts School for witchcraft and wizardry. As always I must remind you that the forbidden forest on the grounds is indeed forbidden and that after dinner everyone is to follow their prefects to their house common rooms. Well, that's enough talk for now. Everyone enjoy the feast."

As she finished speaking the Hall broke into chatter as the plates on the table filled up with every type of food imaginable. Ariana looked around astonished. She heard a chuckle to her side and saw Scorpius smirking at her with his eyebrows raised.

"What's the matter Dumbledore? All this a bit too much for you?" He rolled his eyes and looked at her with a look of disinterest. "I can't wait to your face when the ghosts come down."

Ariana gasped and looked at him in horror. "Ghosts?"

He smirked once again and Ariana felt her stomach drop, he wasn't kidding. Before she could think about it too hard Ariana began piling food on to her plate and dug in quickly. After a few bites Ariana noticed how starved she was ate more readily forgetting everything that had happened that night and what the sorting hat had told her. _Now this, _Ariana thought spooning some mashed potatoes into her mouth. _This I could get used to._

* * *

Hey everyone I hope you like this chapter. Thanks for reading.

Becca Bear


	9. The Two Faces

**Magical Encounters**

**Chapter nine: The two faces.**

** The first week went by in a haze as Ariana became accustomed to her classes. Surprisingly she found it very easy to fit into her schedule and get on the good side of all her teachers. By the end of the third day Ariana could already tell that she would do incredibly well at Hogwarts, a fact that pleased her but not any of her peers. Especially the Slytherins. Jealousy she expected, but hatred she did not and the Slytherins hated her. At first it seemed to be a simple matter of who her uncle was and the Slytherins were not happy about this but they figured that sometimes the apple did indeed fall far from the tree. However now on Friday morning it was clear to the Slytherins that Ariana was definitely a Dumbledore and they hated everything about her. **

** In the common room, things had been progressively getting worse throughout the week. What had started as quiet whispers echoing in the corners had now escalated to full blown taunts and insults aimed at Ariana's face. Ariana paid the Slytherins no mind however. She could deal with the taunting, but there was one thing that unnerved her. The rumors. There were many rumors rushing among the Slytherins and almost all of them revolved around Ariana. **

** Ariana however was oblivious to these rumors and went on through her week pushing through insults with no idea of the lies lurking in the wings. She woke up that Friday to a silent dormitory and lifted herself onto her elbows and looked around. Eerie green light shown from the lanterns that were hung sporadically around the room and Ariana could tell from the sounds of even breathing she heard, that the other girls she roomed with were still asleep. Ariana silently slid of her bed and dressed herself as quickly and quietly as she could, and once she was finished she grabbed the books she would need for her classes today, along with her wand, and headed to the common room. As she walked down to the common room voices came up to meet her, her first look at the rumors surrounding her.**

** "Who does she think she is?" One voice whispered. "Why is she even here in the first place? I mean, she is the biggest saint in the whole bloody school." **

** "Well I mean, if you think about it," another voice answered. "There is only one answer." The speaker paused for dramatic effect. "She must be faking it all. I mean think about it: the sorting hat doesn't lie and if it thinks she belongs in Slytherin then there must be something dark about her. Chances are miss perfect doesn't want anyone finding out on a count of it would ruin her family's precious name. She must be faking her whole personality."**

** Ariana had stopped in the shadow of the stairs and she stayed there waiting for more.**

** "I understand," The first voice said. "But do you reckon it's smart for people to mess with her."**

** "No," was the whispered response. "I think it's downright stupid. I mean, what is going to happen when she finally drops the act? No, it's not smart. I know people are mad because they don't think she belongs here, which she doesn't, but I, for one, am going to ignore her."**

** Ariana waited for more, but none came and so she stepped down the last few steps into the common room. Many people looked toward her as she strode across the room but none of them said anything to her. Ariana took a seat in a tall armchair by the intricately carved fireplace and glanced at the grandfather clock near the entrance to the common room. She had two hours till her potions class. **

** Ariana brought her knees up to her and leaned her chin on them. She closed her eyes gently and opened her ears to her surroundings. There was not much going on around her. Ariana knew that most of the first years would be waking up soon since they would want to go to breakfast before going to their first class of the day. She figured that the few people in the common room were simply early risers or possibly people who needed more time to do their homework. Either way she didn't really care.**

** Ariana heard someone fall into the chair beside her, but she refused to open her eyes. In her mind, if she opened them one of two people would be sitting beside her. 1) The person could be one of the earlier risers who were mostly sixth and seventh years who didn't give too much thought to Ariana or why she was in their house. Or 2) the person could be one of the many ruthless first years who tormented Ariana all the time. Not liking her chances very much even as they rested on fifty-fifty, Ariana kept her eyes closed and hoped that whoever was beside her would get the message. **

** They apparently did not. Whoever was beside her began to gently shake her shoulders and Ariana regrettably opened her eyes only to find that Scorpius Malfoy was looking at her. She sat straight in her chair and raised her eyebrow at him. Scorpius had sat with Ariana at every class and at every meal but he had never said one word to her at all and Ariana doubted that today would be any different. Ariana however was wrong.**

** "So uh, you want to go take a walk before breakfast?" Scorpius asked. "I mean, we have like half an hour before everybody starts heading down anyway and I don't really want to stay in here."**

** Ariana mouth hung slightly agape before she remembered her manners and closed it. She cleared her throat and spoke as calmly as she could to avoid showing Scorpius the depth of her shock. "Um, sure. But won't we get in trouble?" **

** "Nah, not if we don't get caught." Scorpius said, his mouth forming a mischievous smirk. **

** He didn't wait for her answer and simply stood up, beckoning with his head for her to follow. Ariana stood up quickly and followed Scorpius to the opening in the stone wall that lead outside the common room. He stepped out in front of her and after she followed they saw the opening to the common room vanish behind them. Ariana let Scorpius lead the way and for a few minutes they walked in silence. **

** Ariana bit her lip and looked at Scorpius from the corner of her eyes. He was looking at her. Ariana looked away and blushed. She knew that he was probably just looking for something to say but she couldn't help but feel butterflies in her stomach. **

** Scorpius looked at Ariana almost at the same moment that she looked at him but unlike Ariana, who blushed and looked away, Scorpius, kept looking at her. He didn't really know what to say. I mean, sure he was the one who had suggested the walk, but now that he thought about it he didn't even know why he did that in the first place. All he knew is that he had been trying to talk to Ariana all week, but he couldn't and he didn't know why. Scorpius had never had a problem talking to anyone before, girl or boy. But with Ariana things were different. He could talk to her pretty calmly, but it was building himself up to actually speak that was difficult.**

** He opened his mouth to speak and Ariana looked at him hopefully with her icy blue eyes wide and then… then Scorpius shut his mouth again and looked away. They had walked for a good five minutes when Scorpius finally spoke up. **

** "So," He began looking down at his feet. "How do you like the school?"**

** "I love it for the most part." Ariana said turning her face to Scorpius. "I love the classes and the teachers and the freedom of it all, but-" **

** "But people haven't really been nice to you?" he asked and waited for Ariana to nod her head before continuing. "Yeah, I noticed. Well, people are dumb, what can you do about it?"**

** "I guess I just kind of wish that I was in another house." Ariana began, running her hand through her light sandy hair. "No one in Slytherin likes me. At all. And it's all because either they think I'm evil or because they don't like my family. I'm so sick of it. And I mean, it's not like I asked to be in Slytherin."**

** "You didn't?" Scorpius said a little taken aback. "You didn't want to be in Slytherin at all? Why not?" **

** "It's not so much that I didn't. I mean, I was pretty much neutral during the sorting, but now I kind of wish I had spoken up and demanded that I be put elsewhere. I don't really care what people say about this house or about me for that matter. But, ignoring taunts and rumors is much easier if you have someone who actually gives a damn. You know someone who wants me to stay." **

** Scorpius swallowed in attempt to choke back his thoughts but they bubbled up and burst out of his mouth anyway. "I want you to stay. " Scorpius stopped walking when he realized exactly how pathetic he sounded. "Uh, well, I mean I think Drake would miss you too. I mean he seemed to like you on the train. And more than that you know, well you know. Uh, yeah." **

** Scorpius looked at Ariana to see that she was practically beaming at him. "I don't get it though. Why haven't you talked to me before then? I mean you always sit next to me, but you never say one word." **

** "I'm not much of a talker I guess. " Scorpius answered as they rounded a corner and entered the entrance hall and continued into the great hall "Looks like it's time for breakfast." **

**The rest of the day went by pretty quickly and before she knew it Ariana was at the Slytherin table eating dinner and glancing over to the emeralds in the Slytherin hourglass. She had earned them fifty five points today in her classes. Scorpius wasn't a dinner though and so Ariana ate quickly and headed for the common room.**

**She walked down the halls briskly until she reached the blank stone wall which held the entrance to her common room. She said the password (Parseltongue) and stepped inside. Every chair was taken up in low common room and Ariana looked around for a familiar face. The familiar face. But she couldn't find Scorpius anywhere so instead she headed over to the bulletin board which held only one note. Apparently first years were having flying lessons on Monday. Ariana walked around for a little longer and was just about to give up when someone walked through the entrance of the common room. A whole bunch of some ones actually.**

**Ariana saw Scorpius in the midst of the group and walked closer to them. Scorpius was the center of attention and everyone seemed to be hanging on his every word. He was talking about his family and how he was a pureblood and how well bred he was. Ariana thought it was strange for Scorpius to be so concerned with this obvious show of superiority, but it didn't faze her. She continued toward the group ad even waved to Scorpius, at which point he turned a ghostly white and turned quickly away from her.**

**The group made to follow him and Ariana, who was utterly bewildered by now, followed Scorpius and grabbed hold of his wrist to turn him to her. Scorpius turned to face her but when he did, there was no kindness in his face and his eyes were colder than the stone walls around him.**

**He lifted his chin and looked down at her with a sneer. "What do you want, Dumbledore?" Ariana's fell into a mask of shock and let go of his wrist. "God, look at her. " He said chuckling with his gang of friends before turning and speaking to Ariana directly. "Do you honestly think we are going to talk to you? You have to be kidding right? I mean, why in the world would a Malfoy ever want to talk to a Dumbledore? We shouldn't even be in the same room."**

**Tears began to build in Ariana's eyes but she fought them back and looked fiercely into Scorpius' gray eyes. "That's not what you thought this morning when you walked with me to breakfast and sat with me." **

"**Oh yes," he replied coldly but very defensively. "But clearly out of pity. Even I feel somewhat bad for the oddball. That is, I did. But now that I did my part I think I'm through being so generous."**

"**You are good, huh?" Ariana said, in a firm voice despite the fact that the tears pooling in her eyes were blurring her vision. "You know, I actually thought I had made a friend. I guess not. Hooray for Malfoy, he wins best actor in the role of a backstabber by a landslide." **

**Ariana blinked and the tears spilled over and rolled down her cheeks. She wiped them away, still not breaking eye contact with Scorpius, and for a moment she saw something flicker in his expression. What was it? Sadness?**

**Scorpius was about to answer with a comeback when someone's voice interrupted him. "Jeez Scorpius, what the hell is wrong with you?" **

**Ariana looked behind her to see Drake Zambini walking toward them. He put his hands on Ariana's shoulders and looked coldly at Scorpius. **

"**You know," Drake began, his voice dripping with poison. "I thought you were more than a lying ass but I guess I was wrong. Ariana has done absolutely nothing to you and now you treat her like this. Let me guess, you need to keep up the show for mom and dad? Well, next time keep innocent people out of your act."**

**Drake made a rude gesture at Scorpius and turned to walk away. Ariana looked at Scorpius for a moment longer before thanking Drake and then scampering quickly up the stairs to her dormitory. She opened the door violently and threw herself on the bed just as the tears began to stream readily down her cheeks. She cried herself to sleep that Friday night with only one thought reappearing in her mind. **_**Could this possibly get any worse?**_

**Scorpius lay silently in his bed for a long time simply staring at the ceiling. He had already lain awake for hours and though he was on the brink of exhaustion, his body refused to power down. He felt horrible. He knew what he did was wrong and he knew that he had hurt Ariana immensely. He also knew that Drake was right. Scorpius was only hanging out with that group of people to please his father. Scorpius also knew that he was only mean to Ariana because the group expected it of him and he had indeed risen to meet expectations. Scorpius knew Ariana did not want to speak to him anymore but above all else he knew that he was not going to rest until she did.**

**Hey,**

**I hope you like it. School is winding down so I might write more. Please read and review. Thanks. **

**Becca.**


	10. The Sleepless Dream Potion

**Magical Encounters**

**Chapter ten: The sleepless dream potion.**

** Ariana spent the remainder of the weekend sitting on her four poster bed in the dormitory doing her homework and practicing her charms and transfigurations. The only times she left the room were to eat and use the restroom, and even to do that she usually waited for times where the common room would be pretty much empty. At some point on Friday night Abby had come to find her and by the time Ariana had woken up on Saturday morning a pair of big blue eyes were staring meaningfully at her. Abby stayed with her the entire weekend and when Ariana woke up on Monday morning Abby was asleep in her arms. **

** Ariana woke up and saw that the other girls were starting to wake as well. With this in mind Ariana dressed very quickly and drew her robes tightly against her. She gathered her books and her wand into her arms and gestured to Abby that she was leaving. She and Abby walked down to the common room and they were, as always, greeted by the low ceiling, green light, and whispered voices. Ariana paid no mind to the people who stopped talking as she walked past and she quietly made her way to the entrance and out of the common room. **

** As she stepped out of the hole in the wall Ariana watched it close up behind her and let out a sigh of relief. No one had followed her. She turned around and began to walk quickly through the halls, wanting to make it to the owlery and back in time to eat breakfast. Abby followed behind her faithfully occasionally meowing and expressing her boredom, but other than that their trip went unnoticed by the castle.**

**Ariana rounded a corner and entered the owlery. She beckoned to one of the school's owls and it flew down to meet her looking warily at Abby who was looking around with wonder while slowly licking her paw. The tawny owl that met her held out its paw and Ariana fastened a letter to it while disclosing the destination of the letter (Mary at the orphanage). She gave the owl a smile and sent it off with her blessing to come and go safely before turning back out of the owlery with Abby tight on her heels. **

**Ariana made it to the great hall just as everyone else was starting to file in. She walked in the midst of the crowd only to feel someone shake her shoulders gently. She turned around and her face turned into the quintessence of happiness. **

"**Albus," Ariana began throwing her arms around the boy. "How are you? I missed you guys this weekend. Thank God we have potions together. "**

"**Yeah, "Albus replied smiling as he led Ariana out of the crowd and toward the Gryffindor table. " Everyone missed you too. We looked for you on Saturday because we all hung out outside but we couldn't find you anywhere. Come on let's catch up."**

**At this point they had reached the Gryffindor table and Albus sat down offering an open seat to Ariana and smiling at his friends, who in turn smiled at him and Ariana. Ariana hesitated before sitting and smiled tentatively at everyone. There was a chorus of hellos before she actually focused enough to recognize all the people she had previously met. "Hey Roxie, Rose, James. Where are Lucy and Fred?"**

**James spoke up from Ariana's left side looking at her with some intrigue. "Lucy is with her sister Molly. They are both a fair amount of years older than the rest of us so it's understandable. Fred is over there with his friends, he sits here sometimes just like I do, but we are not first years so we already have our own groups. You know how it is."**

"**Uh yeah," Ariana replied. "I get you. So how does everyone like school?"**

**Albus replied first and most enthusiastically. "It's amazing! I love it here. The teachers are so cool too." **

"**Yea its nice here." Roxie agreed looking to Rose to say what she thought.**

"**It's ok," Rose began. "But it could be better." **

**James leaned closer to Ariana and whispered into her ear, "Believe she is just ticked off because she isn't the top of her class. That was always Rosie's dream."**

**Ariana sank into her seat to avoid talking any further about school and thankfully she was saved as plates started to fill before them. They all ate rather quickly and once they were satisfied Ariana, Roxie, Rose and Albus rose to head to the dungeons for their potions lesson. Ariana stood up and felt a slight tugging at her robes. She glanced down to see that James was looking up at her, his blue eyes nearly covered by his jet-black hair. **

"**Don't be a stranger, eh Ari?" He grinned at her and then lifted himself up and walked away, playfully nudging Ariana's shoulder as he passed her. **

**Ariana stared after him in wonder before she heard a giggle behind her and turned to see Albus, Rose, and Roxanne all staring at her and smiling. She walked over to them and smiled nervously up at them. "What are you guys giggling about?"**

"**Oh nothing," Rose began. "Just be careful with my cousin alright. When he likes a girl he doesn't stop until he gets her." **

**Ariana looked at her and saw the other two nod their agreement. She looked down at her feet and pretended that she didn't care about what they had just said, but in reality she did. At least now she knew that someone liked her and that lifted her spirits up. Before she realized it, she and her first year Gryffindor friends were walking next to the Slytherin table. Ariana continued walking as if nothing had changed but she knew people were looking at her. She and Rose, Roxie, and Albus had made it all the to the entrance hall before a voice came up behind them.**

"**Well now, look who made some friends." Scorpius Malfoy and his gang trotted up behind Ariana and her friends, forcing them to turn around. "And Gryffindors? Really? You can't do any better than that?" **

**Ariana was prepared to keep walking but apparently Roxanne was not raised to take teasing so lightly. "Yeah, she is friends with Gryffindors, and what's the matter with that?"**

"**Nothing I suppose." Malfoy began with false understanding. "Except that it's pathetic. Seriously Dumbledore? You are going to go running to Gryffindors when you can't handle the heat of your own house?"**

**Ariana opened her mouth to retort but before she had the chance Roxanne interjected. "Excuse me, but who the bloody hell are you to be spurning the help of Gryffindors. If it weren't for our parents, who were all Gryffindors I might add, your dad would have died almost twenty years ago. That coward, he couldn't even pick a side in a war out of fear that his decision would lead to his death." **

**Scorpius was furious but somehow he could not find the voice to speak and Roxanne took that as an ok to continue. "I mean come on; all your father ever did was play along with whoever held the upper hand just so that he could avoid his death. That wouldn't be so bad, I can understand not wanting to die but he really was a coward. All he ever did was run to his father for everything and now here you are, yet another Malfoy unwilling to stand up to his father. I'm sure that's it isn't it? You don't want to let your father know that you are actually nice to the children of his rivals. Well, suck it up. A real father would be proud of his son no matter what." **

**All of Scorpius' friends were looking at him in shock. Scorpius himself was shocked but he managed to pull himself together and say one final thing. "Wow, Dumbledore, you can't even fight your own battles can you? See you in potions."**

**Scorpius and his friends pushed in front of Ariana's group and as they did so Ariana stole a look at Scorpius, he was looking at her too. He bumped into her and sent a sneer in her direction for all to see, but unseen by the others was the gentle touch of his hand upon hers as he slipped a note inside. He and his group continued briskly on their way and as they left Ariana found herself surrounded by her own friends. **

**They all asked her if she was all right all the way down to the dungeons and although Ariana was polite and told them there was nothing to worry about, her answers left something to be desired. She gave them half answers or just simply nodded because no matter how hard she tried to focus on them; her thoughts were on the note folded up in her clenched hand. When they reached the dungeons everyone scattered into their previously chosen seats and Ariana dragged herself over to the two person table that she sat at with Scorpius. **

** Scorpius held his breath when Ariana came into the dungeons and wondered if she had read his note yet. She sat down next to him and totally avoided his eyes. **_**Nope, she hasn't read it. **_**Scorpius thought, **_**if she had she wouldn't be as mad at me. I think. **_

__**Scorpius looked at her and willed her to make eye contact but she was stubbornly looking forward. He opened his mouth to whisper something to her but before he had the chance the potions master walked boisterously into the room and all conversation ended. Scorpius glanced lazily at professor Slughorn. The man was very old and seemed to be intent on using that to make his students do his bidding. Countless times in the first week alone he had turned to one of his first years and asked them to grab something or other for him. If the first year took too long or showed some form annoyance at the request Slughorn would begin a guilt trip that would convince even the coldest witch or wizard ("oh but in my old age I had hoped to be freed of such burdens by my loved ones. O course I have no loved ones and so I must rely on you, children, and I thank you most dearly for your help.")**

** Slughorn marched up to the center of the class and used his wand to form letters in the air in which he wrote. "The sleepless dream potion. Now who here can tell me what it does?**

** As he knew it would Ariana's hand rose into the air, as did Rose Weasley's. "Yes Miss Weasley."**

** Rose lifted herself up and spoke clearly and calmly. "The sleepless dream potion is a complicated concoction which gives the person who takes it a day dream of a very random nature."**

** "That is mostly correct," Slughorn began. "Take five points to Gryffindor. But Miss Dumbledore do you have something to add?"**

** "Yes," Ariana said quietly. "Though I agree with Rose, I wanted to add that it has been speculated that the daydreams are a reflection of the previous dream the person has experienced and since people tend to forget their dreams it is possible that the day dream they experience might actually not be random."**

** "Yes," Slughorn said, beaming. "That is one hundred percent correct. Take ten points to Slytherin." He paced for a second before landing in his chair and glancing at his silent class. "Alright. So you will make this potion today. It is described on page fifty three of your books and any ingredients you might need are in the classroom stores. At the end the class the person with the best potion will experience its effects first hand. Ok begin."**

** Scorpius sat still for a second as he class erupted into motion around him and Ariana. He knew that if he was going to say anything to her at all, it had to be now so he leaned in close to her and whispered into her ear. "Read the note, I will get your ingredients."**

** With that Scorpius got up and walked over to the cabinets that lined the walls of the cool dungeon. He grabbed two of everything that was necessary to make the potion and turned to face Ariana. She was reading the note. Her sandy hair was falling over her shoulders and Scorpius slowed his walk when he saw her take out her quill and write a response to his note. Once Scorpius saw that Ariana had finished he walked briskly back to their desk. He gently put down all their ingredients and he and Ariana began to work.**

**The end of the hour came closer and Slughorn reluctantly rose from his chair to examine everyone's potions. As Slughorn made his way across the room Scorpius pocketed the note Ariana had written him and added the finishing touch to the potion. He had to admit he was proud of himself. The book said the potion was supposed to be lavender and smell like strawberries. His was a bit darker than it was supposed to be but the smell was exactly right. Scorpius smiled to himself as he heard Slughorn tell Rose that her potion was the right color but not the right smell ("that could mean the difference between the sleepless dream potion and just a dreaming draught"). **

**Slughorn came up to Scorpius and took a deep breath. "Very nice Mister Malfoy, the smell is perfect, but as for the color I think you needed to add in more sage. Now Miss Dumbledore."**

**Scorpius took a glance at Ariana's potion and his mouth dropped open, it was perfect. Slughorn seemed to think so too and he announced that Ariana's potion was the best and that she would be drinking it. The professor led Ariana to the center of the room and sat her down in the arm chair he usually sat in during class. **

"**Alright," Slughorn said while he indicated for Ariana to take a seat. "Now, Miss Dumbledore will take the potion and once she falls into her daydream she will describe what it is that is seeing to us and then each of you will write an essay on how Miss Dumbledore fell into the daydream and how she described it. Miss Dumbledore you are exempt from this essay, which will be due on Friday" **

**Slughorn produced a ladle out of thin air and scooped up a portion of Ariana's potion and brought it up to her. "Watch carefully," He began, tipping the ladle into Ariana's mouth. "You might want to take notes."**

**Scorpius heard the rustle of parchment around him, but he didn't bother. Scorpius watched Ariana's face carefully waiting for a change and he definitely got it. Within a minute of taking the potion Ariana gasped audibly and sighed as her icy blue eyes glazed over. She shook for a second and then shuddered as if she was cold. Scorpius felt a shiver crawl up his spine as he saw Ariana's eyes roll back and then her breathing suddenly evened out.**

**Ariana's body was now slumped in the chair but when she spoke her voice was clear and strong. "I see a little girl. She looks really familiar. Blond hair and blue eyes. She is alone, in a place with grass. Maybe a garden or something like that. She is really happy because she is playing and I think she is using magic because she is making things float all around her. She is laughing and- oh God, someone heard her. Two muggle boys." **

**At this point everyone had leaned in closer to listen; even Scorpius stopped pretending not to care and leaned in closer to hear every single word that was dripping from Ariana's mouth. Everyone in the class had stopped taking notes and all of them were staring intently at Ariana, who was now shaking vehemently.**

"**They are talking to the girl now. She stopped using magic when they showed themselves and now they want to see it again. She says no, and they- they are getting mad. She is so scared; I don't think she even knows how to do it again. They are so mad. One of them is pulling her up and they are telling her that she either shows them or else. She is trying so hard, but she doesn't have any idea how."**

**A spasm went through Ariana's body and started whimpering the rest of her words. "Oh my God they shove her onto the ground and now they are kicking her and-"Ariana couldn't finish the sentence and all of a sudden everyone was standing for a better look. Scorpius' eyes widened as he stood up to look at Ariana. Her body was jerking left and right and she shaking so badly that he could hear her teeth chattering. He glanced at Slughorn and saw that he was heading out the door calling for some more professors to take her to the Hospital wing. **

**Scorpius looked back to Ariana who was still jerking uncontrollably but now Albus and Roxanne were holding her down while Rose ran to help the professor. Ariana made a choking noise and her body convulsed violently throwing her friends off of her. As they struggled to get up from the floor Scorpius saw blood begin to flow out of Ariana's mouth and nostrils. He bolted toward Ariana without even thinking about what people were going to think and slammed one hand down on each of her arms. **

**Scorpius held her down as forcefully as possible and told her to calm down repetitively. It was futile however because her gasps of pain and the choking sounds she had been making had now escalated into screams of horror. Scorpius felt her struggling to get him to release her but he refused to let her go and he began to notice something very odd. Every time Ariana screamed Scorpius felt a wave of power radiate from her and it was steadily building as her screams grew louder and louder. **

**Albus and Roxanne had gotten up now and were helping Scorpius hold Ariana down but still she struggled and thrashed against them, the waves of magical power growing every time. Slughorn came into Scorpius' field of vision and said that the teachers we coming down the hall and that they only had to hold on a little longer but just as he finished saying this Ariana shrieked in an ear-splitting pitch.**

"**NO!" She screamed releasing a surge of magic so strong that it was all Scorpius could do to hold on. "Get away from me! I didn't do anything!"**

**Scorpius saw that her eyes were still rolled back and knew that she must be talking about the boys from the dream and he decided to do the only thing he could. While still holding firmly onto Ariana Scorpius leaned forward and screamed into Ariana's ears. "Ari, listen to me. You are not the girl in the dream just get out of there, this is not you."**

**He forced his grip even tighter and felt her hands clench around his arm and pull him closer. He didn't fight against her and he resisted crying out in pain as her nails drew blood from his skin. He swallowed loudly and muttered a curse. "Ariana, wake up. You are not that girl. It's all just a dream. You are not in a garden with two muggles. You are at Hogwarts. With me, Scorpius. Your friends are here too. You are safe Ariana-"Scorpius felt her put her head on his shoulder and her blood dripped onto his shirt. "- Stay with us Ari. We won't hurt you. Come back, we have you." **

**Ariana's screams lessened to little spasms and soon she was just gasping and shivering. Scorpius felt her grip on his arms lessen but she continued to hold his arms and she didn't push him away. Scorpius felt her head sink deeper into his shoulder and again he didn't pull away. He felt her body shudder and then she was crying on his shoulder and pulling him closer to her. Scorpius knew that people were watching him but he let Ariana draw him to her and before he could even think to stop himself he had let go of her arms and wrapped them around her. **

**Scorpius felt her friends looking at him and he simply ignored them as he slid into the chair in a small opening beside Ariana. He managed to get on and then held Ariana with one hand as he lifted her legs with the other. She didn't fight him and before too long she was sitting sideways on his lap and leaning her entire upper body against his. Her head was still tucked into the space between Scorpius' head and shoulder. Scorpius, however, had his eyes closed to avoid any stares that were being aimed his way and sat with his arms around Ariana.**

**Scorpius heard a shuffle in front of him and opened his eyes to see Slughorn and other concerned teachers looking down at him. He smiled awkwardly up at them. "So uh, what's going to happen now?" **

**One of the teachers that Scorpius knew to be named Longbottom looked like he was about to be sick but he swallowed heavily and looked Scorpius in the eyes. "We need to take her to the hospital wing but thank you for whatever it was you did." **

**Scorpius nodded and loosened his grip as Neville bent down to take hold of Ariana. After Scorpius saw that Ariana was safely in Neville's arms he got up and began to walk away toward his things, but the instant he turned around he heard Ariana's sobs intensify and Neville called back after him.**

"**Maybe you should come with us then." Neville said getting nods of agreements from the other teachers.**

**Scorpius grabbed his things and then he and the teachers made their way out of the room leaving even Ariana's friends in the mess that was left behind. Professor Slughorn stayed back to direct his students and Scorpius noticed that once he, Neville, and Ariana were in the hallway most of the other teachers dispersed as well. Neville lead him up to the hospital wing never letting Scorpius get too far away. They reached the hospital wing in a short amount of time and the nurse escorted them to an empty bed where Neville laid Ariana down.**

"**Okay," the nurse began looking from Neville to Scorpius. "Professor Longbottom, you can stay. But you, Mr. Malfoy I presume, should move along."**

**Scorpius was readying himself to leave when Neville quickly interjected. "Madam Pomphrey I really think he should stay. He was the one who calmed little Ariana down in the first place and every time he is away from her she starts to cry harder so I think he should stay. At least until she falls asleep."**

"**Alright then Neville." Madam Pomphrey said looking down at Scorpius as she spoke. "Will you be staying as well?" **

"**No." Neville said calmly. "I am going to go talk to the headmistress. Good bye Madam."**

**Scorpius watched as Madam Pomphrey lead Neville out and then scampered around the room collecting supplies before disappearing into a cabinet. Scorpius then walked over to Ariana's bed and pulled up a chair to sit beside her. She was still crying and her eyes were shut tightly as if she didn't want to face the light of the room. Scorpius pulled his chair still closer and laid a hand on her bed so that he could steady himself as he looked over her. Her body was still shaking and Scorpius was wondering what could have possibly happened to her when he felt a hand come over his.**

**Scorpius sat back and looked at his hand. Ariana was holding it now and he looked back to her face to find that her eyes were open and looking at him. Scorpius' body froze and he swallowed loudly. Ariana's eyes looked down at their hands and Scorpius found himself closing his hand around hers. She looked at him, dry tear marks on her cheeks and smiled directly at Scorpius. He smirked back at her and when he did he saw her body relax as he adjusted herself and began to fall asleep.**

**Madam Pomphrey walked back in and immediately began working. "You managed to make her sleep huh? Well, I supposed you can stay if you'd like, you aren't doing anyone any harm." **

**Scorpius watched as Madam Pomphrey continued to work but as he glanced at the clock he realized he needed to be off to his next lesson. He Told Madam Pomphrey that he was leaving and gave Ariana's hand a squeeze before gathering all his things and heading out of the hospital wing. Scorpius walked through the halls just as they began to fill with students. In the commotion of it all Scorpius remembered the note he had written to Ariana and on his way to his transfiguration class he pulled open the note and read Ariana's reply. Her reply was: Depends on if you give me reason to.**

**He had written that he was sorry and asked her if she would ever talk to him again.**

**That's it for this chapter. And for those of you who notice plot holes I want to let you know that Neville's appearance in the classroom despite his being the herbology professor will be explained in the next chapter so no worries. Anyway, I hoped you all liked it. Please R&R. Thanks.**

**Becca**


	11. Quidditch

**Magical Encounters**

**Chapter eleven: Quidditch**

**Disclaimer- It's been a while since I put this up so just so it's clear, I don't own Harry Potter. I wish I did but nope. Sad. =[**

** Ariana's eyes opened to the bright fluorescent lighting of the Hospital wing. She blinked and squinted, attempting to adjust to the brightness, only to be foiled as seven heads clambered all around her. As she looked up at the faces she saw the familiar mix of red, black, and even mousy brown hair that signified that her Weasley and Potter friends had come to see her. Albus, Roxanne, Rose, and Fred were to her left while to the left stood James, Lucy, and a girl Ariana assumed was Molly, due to the extreme resemblance she held to her sister.**

** Ariana lifted herself up and propped her head up against the backboard. "Hey you guys. Thanks so much for coming to visit." She turned to the girl she had not yet been formally introduced to. "You must be Molly, hi I'm Ariana." **

** Ariana held out her hand and Molly nodded as she took it. "It's nice to meet you as well seeing as I have heard so much already. James refused to shut up about you yesterday and once he got the news that you were hurt, oh my gosh he acted like the sky was fa-"**

** Her words were halted as James loudly cleared his throat. Ariana glanced at him to find that his face had gone red and he was averting her eyes by becoming very preoccupied with his shoes. Ariana looked toward her friends and smiled. She felt like as long as she had some people that cared for her, then she could deal with the Slytherins. When this thought came to Ariana's mind she realized that the person she most wanted to see was not around her.**

** Ariana cleared her throat and attempted to sound tough. "So um, was anybody here when you guys came in?" **

** Albus tried to answer but Roxie beat him to it. "Professor Longbottom was here actually. Lucky for you he was free yesterday since it was raining so hard. When everything happened yesterday he was passing by on his way up to the staffroom and he was the one who brought you up here."**

** "Oh, okay." Ariana responded disheartened. "So how were the flying lessons?"**

** "Weren't you paying attention?" Albus asked, chuckling at Ariana's confused expression to his reaction. "It was raining really badly yesterday, so lessons were postponed till today."**

** "Yeah," James added, finally finding his voice. "We talked to Madam Pomphrey and everything; she says you are free to go whenever you are ready. Actually someone even brought you a change of cloth-"**

** "Who was it?" Ariana blurted instantly before catching herself and calming her voice. "Who brought my stuff for me?"**

** "What does it matter anyway?" James said flipping his hair out of his eyes, oblivious to Ariana's disappointment. "Some Slytherin kid, I guess. Whatever though, get dressed so you can eat before we head down to the Quidditch Pitch. We brought you some food."**

** Ariana smiled in appreciation as her friends handed her her clothes and pulled a curtain around her hospital bed. Ariana threw her feet over the side of her bed and got up quickly. She roughly pulled on her clean robes and knocked aside the curtain to find a seemingly empty room in front of her. Except that it wasn't empty because before Ariana had taken two steps toward the door Rose Weasley had stepped out from behind her to cover her path.**

** "Listen Ariana," Rose began tentatively. "I don't mean to be a pessimistic patty but you shouldn't get your hopes up about Scorpius. " Rose took in the hurt and surprised look on Ariana's face and continued quickly. "Look, I noticed how much you seemed to care that a Slytherin brought up your clothes and I'm guessing you wanted it to be him but you should not rely on him. I don't want to hurt your feelings because I can tell by the potions class yesterday that there is definitely something going on between you two. But I have to tell you that whatever it is, it is never going to be shown to others."**

** Rose took a breath and looked at Ariana's sad face before continuing. "I heard him yesterday at dinner talking about the whole thing. He twisted the story Ariana. He told all his friends that he only helped you to get in Slughorn's good graces. He said that he wanted to look like a hero so that the teachers in the school would like him. Ariana, I don' really know if that is true or not but it's obvious that Scorpius just wants to be just like his father. Cool, cold, and unconcerned with those he considers beneath him."**

** Ariana was almost in tears, but Rose continued nonetheless. "I'm sorry for dropping this on you but I thought you deserved to find out and none of my cousins heard what I heard. If you want to be his friend in secret then cool, that's your choice, but don't expect much. As for any feelings of affection, you should know that James is really into you and I know he is a little rough around the edges but he is a very nice guy."**

** Ariana wiped at her eyes as she and Rose made their way toward the door and as she put her hand on the handle, Ariana turned to face Rose. "I understand where you are coming from and I appreciate you telling me these things but I think I'm just going to let the chips fall where they may."**

** On their way down to the Quidditch pitch Ariana walked a couple of paces behind the others and very ungracefully stuffed the sandwich that the others had given her into her mouth. By the time they reached the pitch Ariana had caught up with the others (Only Albus, Roxie, and Rose) and they were all discussing their expectations for the lesson when they joined the crowd of first years gathering in the middle of the pitch.**

**An older woman walked into the crowd of first years and blew a silver whistle loudly. "Listen up everyone. I am Madam Hooch and I must ask all of you to make your way to one of the brooms on the left side of the pitch."**

** Ariana scampered across the pitch and took her spot beside a seemingly ordinary, beaten down old broom. Madam Hooch walked among the first years until they had all settled comfortably beside one of the brooms that had been previously lain down. The brooms had been set so that there were two long lines that were facing each other and when Ariana looked across from her she saw Scorpius looking around anywhere but across him. Ariana drew herself up and attempted to look tough, but stopped when a girl standing beside her told her she was turning blue and asked why Ariana was holding her breath.**

** Feeling down hearted, Ariana turned her attention to Madam Hooch who was standing in between the two lines and yelling out to her students. "Alright then. Now that all of you have settled on a broom I want you to put your right hand over the broomstick and firmly say up."**

** Ariana cleared her throat and strongly ordered the broom to come up and the results were instantaneous. Before Ariana had even fully finished the command the broomstick zoomed up toward her hand and she closed her hand around it firmly. Ariana looked around her expecting o see the same results occurring all around but she was very wrong. All around her kids were saying up again and again at broomsticks that remained still on the grass beneath their feet.**

** Ariana dared herself to sneak a peek at Scorpius. When she looked across at him she saw that he was looking at her with an impressed expression. Scorpius then winked almost too quickly for anyone to see and then looked down at his broom and called it up to him. Ariana watched as the broomstick rushed into his hands the same way it had come to her and when Scorpius had wrapped his hand around the broom he looked up and met Ariana's eyes meaningfully.**

** Madam Hooch walked around helping the students who were having difficulties and then briskly walked into the middle of the lines of students. "Now I want everyone to mount their brooms." She waited until everyone had done so. "When I am finished speaking I will blow my whistle and all of you will push off the ground and hover for a moment before touching back down. Now all you have to know is that you have to will yourself to fly but the rest will happen naturally. In the real magical world it's not happy thoughts and pixie dust that get you up. Its magical power and your will and knowledge that you can do this."**

** She looked around at everyone and smiled. "And you ****can**** do this. Now on my count and whistle. One, two, three."**

** She blew the whistle. As soon as the piercing sound rung out among the first year there was a flurry of activity. Ariana shut her eyes tightly and pushed off the ground expecting her feet to slam back onto the ground. But they didn't. Ariana opened her eyes to find that she was floating gently about two or three feet above the ground. With a feeling of satisfaction Ariana touched back on the ground and looked around. **

** All around her she saw people jumping and attempting to get into the air without much avail whilst others had managed to get in the air but landed heavily and clumsily around her. She looked across to Scorpius to see that he was on the ground and grinning at others around him smugly. Ariana looked away quickly and remembered what Rose had told her. **_**He really is a snob**_** Ariana thought**_** a big one.**_

** Madam Hooch went around to those who needed help for another fifteen minutes and then she allowed those that had managed to succeed to coast around for a while. Ariana coasted for a while but soon enough the bell rang signaling that their lesson was over. Ariana touched down and swung her leg off her broom before looking around for her group of friends. **

** Ariana had just spotted Albus when Madam Hooch's voice rand out in the pitch. "The Slytherin house team will be out here tonight for their tryouts. First years don't usually make house teams but if you want to see how the game is played then you should come after supper."**

** Ariana sat at the Gryffindor table again that night. She tried to anyway. Unfortunately, about twenty minutes into supper Professor Slughorn trotted down to her from the staff table and alerted her that she is to eat with her house unless instructed otherwise. Feeling dread encompass her body Ariana got up solemnly and waved a down-hearted good-bye to her friends. She walked slowly across the great hall and tried as hard as she could keep the tears that had welled in her eyes from falling. **

** When Ariana reached the Slytherin table she caught sight of Scorpius with his gang of friends at one end of the table. Instantly she turned away and headed in the opposite direction. Ariana reached the very end of the table and sat down. She had just begun shoveling mashed potatoes onto her plate when she felt someone slip into the seat beside her. **

** "Hey Ari," Drake said calmly, smiling his one thousand watt smile in her direction. "What's up?"**

** Ariana sighed with relief and smiled back at Drake. "Nothing much, just contemplating about if I should go down to the Quidditch Pitch after dinner or n-"**

** "You have to!" Drake yelled, interrupting her. "I'm trying out for keeper and I need some support. Please come?"**

** Ariana nodded and received another beautiful smile in return. She and Drake talked about school for the remainder of dinner and once they were both pleasantly full they made their way out of the great hall and outside toward the Quidditch Pitch.**

** Scorpius was absolutely furious. He had seen Ariana sitting at the Gryffindor with her little friends and she had been talking to that stupid James fellow. Without even caring how it make her feel he had then told Professor Slughorn and insisted that she be sent back to her respective table. But now that this was done, Scorpius found that he was still not satisfied. He had expected that Ariana would not sit with him, but he had not thought she would very bluntly avoid being anywhere near him. Nor had he thought that some other undeserving prick would move in to talk to Ariana, but Drake had stepped up to that plate quite quickly and now it was all Scorpius could do to stop himself from going over to them and giving Drake a piece of his mind. **

** Attempting to rid his mind of his thoughts of jealousy, Scorpius turned his attention to the girl beside him. Her name was Matilda and she was very obviously infatuated with Scorpius. She was pleasant looking with dark brown hair that contrasted her porcelain skin and nearly translucent jade green eyes. Scorpius began to talk to her throwing some compliments in her direction in return for the praises that were rife in almost every sentence she uttered. Scorpius had just begun to forget Ariana, when suddenly she and Drake were walking past him. **

** Matilda followed Scorpius's eyes and instantly twisted her face into a scowl. She stuck out her leg and caught both Ariana and Drake causing them to stumble. Drake and Ariana turned around and Drake opened his mouth as if to speak, but before he could Ariana grabbed hold of his arm and dragged him out of the great hall. **

** Matilda turned back to Scorpius triumphantly. "So pathetic, huh? She doesn't even try to fight anymore, kind of ruins the fun of it but whatever. Anyway, I think they might be headed down to the tryouts, you want to go?"**

** Scorpius thought for a while. Truth was he did want to go, but not with Matilda. He decided to tell her that he was going to go talk to a teacher about a grade and meet up with her later. She believed him without question and headed to the common room as Scorpius headed to the Quidditch Pitch. He walked quickly to the pitch and made sure none of his so called friends followed him. He wanted to be alone. Or, he at least wanted to be away from them.**

** He entered the pitch to see that the tryouts had already begun. Most of the old players had their positions back but there were three positions open. Two for chasers and one for a keeper. Scorpius neared the stands and made his way up a large set of stairs to get up to the seats. Once he was up there he realized that other than himself there was only one other person in the stands. Ariana.**

** "Uh," He began, timidly. "Can I sit next to you?"**

** Ariana looked up at him and took a deep breath before answering. "You sure you want to be seen with me? What will your posse think?"**

** "Who says they have to know?" Scorpius answered, the corner of his mouth lifting into a smirk.**

** Ariana looked away from him and leaned forward in her seat to watch as Drake, who was apparently trying out for keeper, blocked another would-be goal. After watching her for a few more seconds Scorpius lowered himself into the seat beside and turned his attention to the game. One of the chasers that seemed to know what they were doing was Tyler, the boy from the train, and Scorpius knew form gossip around school that he was on the team last year. Brooke seemed to be trying out and Scorpius could tell that she was pretty good but by Scorpius's standards the girl trying out for the second chaser position didn't know anything about what she was doing. **

** Ariana avoided Scorpius by keeping her eyes on the try-outs. She had to admit, Drake was awesome. He definitely knew what he was doing and seeing as he was the only one trying out, he was obviously going to make the team. It looked like Brooke and the other girl trying out were the Slytherin teams only hope as well, and for that, Ariana deeply pitied the team. Brooke was great but the other girl was horrible. Every time the ball was passed to her she either dropped it or nearly fell off her broomstick. In fact, at one point she tried to shoot a goal and came up so short that when Brooke caught the ball the girl tried to pass it off as just another pass.**

** The try-outs continued and Ariana and Scorpius sat in utter silence. There was more than one time where Ariana saw Scorpius looking at her but she didn't pay him much mind. She knew that the second his friends showed up he would refer back to his superiority complex and she didn't want to have to deal with that anymore. With that in mind it was pretty easy for Ariana to completely ignore Scorpius and focus on the scene in front of her.**

** At this point Scorpius cleared his throat, causing Ariana to look at him just as the red ball that the team had been passing around landed at her feet. Ariana looked down toward the ball bent over and picked it up. When she lifted herself up and out of her seat she looked toward the team to see that the new girl was apologizing vehemently and flying over to her and motioning for her to throw the ball. Ariana, wishing to save the girl of some embarrassment that would come to her for dropping yet another pass, threw the ball to Brooke instead. **

** The red ball whistled through the air as it made its way to Brooke and fell perfectly into her arms. Well, sort of. It turns out that Ariana had thrown the ball way too hard and when Brooke tried to catch the ball, it slammed into her stomach and threw her body backward. Brooke pulled herself up so that she was properly seated on her broom and then she looked at Ariana along with the rest of her team. They all looked stunned and Ariana sank back down into her seat and smiled awkwardly back at them.**

** "Sorry," Ariana yelled out to them. "Sorry Brooke. I didn't think I had thrown it so hard."**

** Tyler flew over to Ariana and coasted to a stop near the stands. "Sorry for what? That was amazing." He lowered his voice. "Listen, Ariana right?" He didn't wait for her to nod. "Look I'm captain this year and I have a pretty good team together here, but that one chaser is killing us. So how about you give it a go huh? You have one hell of an arm and we could definitely use you."**

** Ariana looked over to Scorpius to see his stunned face and then looked back to Tyler. "Look, I appreciate the offer but even if I have a good arm, I'm not the right person for the job. I don't know how to play, or what a chaser is, so I might not be as great as you think I am."**

** "That's fine," Tyler said quickly. "I can teach you. Just please, get yourself on a broom and fly up here so that I can replace this girl."**

** "Ok," Ariana said quietly. "I'll give it a shot."**

** Scorpius was amazed. First years were almost never on house teams but he had to admit that Ariana had the talent for it. The second the other chaser left and she joined the team in practice, everything got ten times better. Ariana was a little rusty on the rules but as the team cleared them up for her it became clear that she was going to become part of this team. By the end of practice Scorpius had seen Ariana score three times and lessen the power of her passes so that the team could effectively make plays involving the three chasers. The other girl waited dejectedly on the ground waiting to be called back in, but her call never came. **

** After some time Scorpius saw the team come together and start toward the ground. As quickly as he could he bounded down the stairs and rushed to catch up to Ariana who, to his dismay, was walking toward the school with Drake. He dashed up to them and fell into step behind Ariana making drake and Ariana drop their conversation and look at him quizzically. **

** "So you're still here?" Ariana began. "I was sure you would have left to be with your posse by now." **

** Scorpius was about to answer her with a rude comment when someone came up behind them and very rudely bumped into Ariana, hitting Scorpius as well. The girl murmured something under her breath and glared at Ariana as she walked away. It was the other chaser who had tried out. The three of them watched her stomp up to the castle and then kept walking in silence.**

** Scorpius bit his lip and was the first to break the silence. "So, I'm guessing you both made the team." **

** Ariana nodded but Drake was the one who answered. "Yeah we did. But why do you care anyway?"**

** "Curiosity I suppose." Scorpius answered.**

** They were very nearly at the castle by now but nonetheless Drake stopped walking and forced Scorpius to face him. "You know what? That's a load of crap and you know it. I don't know what you're playing at but you can't just switch sides like this all the time. You can't be super nice when no one's looking and then an arse when your friends are around, it's not right. And I'm not going to let you do it anymore. If you mess with Ariana, you mess with me, ok? She doesn't deserve to take this from scum like you."**

** "And how do you know she doesn't want me to talk to her, huh?"**

** "I don't." Ariana said staring up at Scorpius Defiantly. "Honestly, Scorp, you are giving me whiplash and I'm pretty sick of it. Talk to me, don't talk to me, I don't really care, but pick one. Choose to be my friend or not but do it quick."**

** Ariana walked ahead of the two boys in a fury and entered the castle. Scorpius watched her go and began to walk up the path as well. Drake followed beside him cast him a curious glance.**

** "So, uh, what are you going to choose?" Drake asked as they reached the castle doors.**

** Scorpius looked at him as the doors opened magically for them. "I don't know yet."**

** "Well, who are you going to see right now? Them or her?"**

** "Them."**

** "Then that's your choice." Drake Shrugged at Scorpius and walked inside the castle, leaving Scorpius alone to follow behind him.**

**Hey everyone. I hoped you liked the chapter. Reviews are very welcome and appreciated so you should click the button down there that says review and make me a happy girl. Thanks for reading. Till next time.**

**Becca **


	12. Secret Friends

**Magical Encounters**

**Chapter twelve: Secret Friends**

**Disclaimer- No ownage for me. Sad**

** Ariana sat alone in the common room. Again. For once she had no homework and a completely free weekend in front of her and it actually upset her. A free weekend meant no distractions, no books to hide behind, no Quidditch practice to look forward to, nothing. This weekend Ariana was going to have to sit around doing absolutely nothing while everyone was off having fun with their friends. Ariana's only hopes were Albus, Rose, James, and Roxanne, who she would have to basically stalk to get a hold of on Saturday. Everyone else however had their own groups. Scorpius had his posse, Albus and the rest of them were having fun in their own house, Tyler and Brooke were getting to know each other more, and even Drake had lessened the amount of time he spent with Ariana. **

** Ariana recalled her moment of discovery with the familiar pang in her stomach that she felt every time she thought of Drake and Sophia. Sophia was the seeker in the Slytherin house team and Drake was obviously head over heels for her. They had been talking a little bit more every practice, always allowing Ariana into the conversation. But, on the previous Wednesday at the end of practice neither Drake nor Sophia had waited for Ariana and she had had to walk back to the Great Hall alone. **

**And here she was again on her favorite chair by the fireplace doing nothing but praying that none of her tormentors were feeling particularly mean today. Ariana pulled her knees up to her chest and listened to the whispers jumping around her. Everyone's main topic of conversation was either about the upcoming Quidditch match or whether or not they were going home for the Holidays. Ariana, for one, was staying at school and as far as she knew she was the only person in the whole Slytherin house that wasn't going off to some part of the world with her obnoxiously rich parents.**

**Ariana sat snuggled up in the cushions for an hour before the voices around her started to fade and her eyes started to close. The common room was all but silent when Ariana's eyes finally drifted closed and she slipped into a fitful sleep**

_**Ariana sat in an attic of some sort waiting quietly for her brother to come to and get her, when she first heard the voices. She knew two of them must belong to her brothers, Albus and Aberforth, but the third she did not recognize. Aberforth was yelling at this man about her. About her future and what the man and Albus would do for people like her. The other man was yelling at him as well, taunting him even, and Ariana felt a compulsion to go downstairs and attempt to resolve the entire ruckus.**_

_** She made her way down quietly and entered the room to find a strange man bearing down on Aberforth, his wand precariously close to his face. Ariana squealed and looked to her eldest brother, who was simply standing aside with a look of horror on his face. The man then turned on Ariana and began saying things to her.**_

_** "So you are the one, huh?" he began, sneering at her. "You are the reason all of our plans have gone to hell. If you hadn't gone on and killed your mo-"**_

_** "That's enough!" Aberforth yelled, back on his feet by this time. "Don't you dare speak to her Gellert Grindewald."**_

_** The man called Grindewald looked away from Ariana to Albus and his whole body was shaking with anger.**_

** Ariana jerked in her sleep catching the attention of the only other person in the room. **

_** "Are you going to let him talk to me that way, Albus?"**_

_**Ariana watched as Albus looked away and shrank into himself. He didn't know which side to choose. Ariana became very nervous. She had always known Albus was not the biggest family man, but she had never expected this. Ariana began to shake uncontrollably and her knees buckled beneath her. She looked toward Aberforth, expecting him to calm her down like he always did, but his eyes were on Grindewald and his wand was raised. **_

** Ariana began to shake uncontrollably.**

_**"Leave him out of this!" Aberforth yelled. "This is between us!"**_

_** At this point Aberforth swung his wand around and a battle played out in front of Ariana's eyes. Curses were hitting everywhere and even Albus threw himself into the throng attempting to stop the whole thing. His attempts had the opposite reaction because the instant he joined the fight the battle grew in intensity. It was as if the other two each thought he had picked the opposite side and had redoubled their attacks in spite. **_

_** Ariana's energy began to pulse out of her and her breathing became very labored. Her body began to jerk uncontrollably, and every time she twitched a burst of magic would be emitted and thrown into the throng. Ariana tried to see beyond the smoke that had erupted in front of her but it was useless and her fear had increased the magic seeping out of her very pores to dangerous amounts.**_

** Scorpius looked at Ariana, puzzled. Her body was shaking and her face was contorted in a mask of fear, even with her eyes closed. Scorpius edged closer to see that there was a sort of pulse being emitted from her. He could feel her magic pushing out at him and trying to fight him away but he fought it and stayed as close to Ariana as he could manage.**

_** Ariana's throat constricted and her breathing became hysterical. He body convulsed as more magic burst out of her in the anxiety of the situation. She heard Gellert scream a curse and then she heard Aberforth cry out in agony and instinct took over. Ariana pushed herself to step forward into the smoke and instantly flashes of colorful light began to fly around her head. The lights ricocheted across the walls of the room and Ariana lost control of her legs and fell to the ground. Ariana raised her head trying to lift herself when her body convulsed again and magic blew out of her. She could feel another burst coming on when she lifted her head up. But before anything could happen, a green light blazed toward Ariana and then the entire room disappeared and Ariana could tell that she wasn't in the same dream anymore.**_

** Scorpius shook Ariana roughly by the shoulders and called out her name until he finally got the response he was looking for. **

** Ariana's eyes fluttered open and she looked around wildly before her eyes finally set on Scorpius, whose hands were on her shoulders and whose eyes were bearing down on her. Ariana tore her gaze from his and pulled out of his grasp quickly. She brought a hand up to her forehead and wiped at the beads of sweat that had formed during her fitful sleep. She looked up to see that Scorpius was still standing over her worriedly and so she sighed and slumped back into her chair.**

** "What do you want Scoprius?" Ariana grumbled at him, raising an eyebrow as she looked around her. "By the look of things everyone has turned in already, so why are you down here?"**

** Scorpius relaxed his face and sat in the arm chair next to Ariana's chair before answering. "Well, I thought maybe we could talk for a bit, but when I saw you were asleep I was going to leave when I saw that you were shaking and jerking around in your sleep. You should be happy I was here. You looked like you were having a fit or something."**

** "I didn't need your help actually. My dream was short of cut short for some reason." Ariana said seriously, looking into Scorpius' gray eyes.**

** "What do you mean?" Scorpius asked.**

** Ariana disputed if she should grace him with the answer for awhile before sighing in defeat and answering him earnestly. "I don't really know. " Ariana turned to face Scorpius and pulled her legs underneath her before continuing. "I was in the dream and I was the girl in it but it seemed like it was the future because I looked older but I had like brothers and they were fighting. Well, after a while the me in the dream got in the middle of things and magic pulsed out of her because she was so scared. She got in between the curses being thrown but right as she was about to be hit, everything went away. I don't know what it was, but it feels like my mind purposefully shut out the end of the dream."**

** Ariana bit her lip as she waited for Scorpius' reply but none came. His face was a mask of shock and he was looking at Ariana with his eyebrows raised. The moment had stretched into a span of minutes before Scorpius recomposed himself. He opened his mouth and then closed it as if thinking better than to say what he was thinking. He shifted uncomfortably in his seat and looked back and forth between Ariana and the floor. **

** "What is it?" Ariana snapped at him, her patience having finally slipped. **

** "Well, Ari, do you remember what happened that day in potions?"**

** Ariana looked at Scorpius for a minute and shook her head. "No. I remember the dream I had up to where the boys starting hitting the little girl but then I became her and I couldn't think anymore. Before I knew it I felt everything the girl was feeling. Come to think of it, I looked a lot like her, just like this dream."**

** "Ari listen, you didn't just feel those things, they happened. There was magic seeping out of your body just like there was this time. I think you are connected to this girl in your dreams in some way. Do you remember anything else?"**

** Ariana started to shake her head before she realized something. "Actually yeah I do. I remember the names of the girl's brothers and the other man in my dream. The man was Gellert Grindewald or something and the brothers were Albus and Aber-"**

** Ariana gasped and looked at Scorpius in realization. "Aberforth was my dad. Aberforth Dumbledore. And I know enough of my history to know that Albus Dumbledore was my uncle. But who was this other guy?"**

** "He was an evil wizard." Scorpius began. "He was into dark magic and Albus Dumbledore defeated him in a duel in nineteen forty five."**

** "If he was so bad then why was he there?" Ariana asked, thinking about how Albus had been so hesitant to choose sides.**

** "I have heard that he and Albus Dumbledore were friends right around the time that your aunt died but the only book that has any information on that has been proved to contain faulty information. I reckon your best chance to find out is to ask your Potter and Weasley friends."**

** "Why?" Ariana asked.**

** "Because their parents were involved with everything that went on during the time that Albus Dumbledore was killed." Scorpius began. "Harry Potter was actually really close to Dumbledore and Dumbledore helped Harry defeat you know who."**

** Ariana held her tongue and attempted not to ask what was in the front of her mind, but she couldn't hold it in any longer. "I don't know who. I think Professor Longbottom was supposed to tell me, but he never did. Can you tell me?"**

** "I think this is also something you will have to ask your Gryffindor friends because they will probably know more than me, but I think I can help you a little." Scorpius cleared his throat and scooted closer to Ariana, lowering his voice to a whisper. "He was a wizard who went bad. Really bad. He went here and everyone thought he was charming and brilliant but even though he was all those things he was also evil. He got a band of followers called death eaters and eventually a war had erupted. There were disappearances everywhere and people were dying all over the place. Then he-who-must-not-be-named heard that there was one person who could defeat him and he set out to kill that person. Don't ask me how he knew because I don't know, but apparently there was some mix up with a secret keeper and you know who managed to get to the family of the person who would cause his fall. He killed the parents of the then one year old boy but when he tried to kill the boy he failed and lost all his power."**

** Scorpius breathed in deep before continuing. "That boy became known as the boy who lived and once he came to Hogwarts things started to happen and eventually you know who came back to power. There was a second war that was fought here and Harry Potter, the boy who lived, killed the darkest wizard who had ever lived."**

** Ariana nodded. "But what does that have to do with my family?"**

** "As I turns out, when you know who was at school, your uncle was already working here and he never trusted him. Once you know who became powerful the only wizard he ever truly feared was Dumbledore. Albus Dumbledore gave Harry Potter all the information he needed to defeat the dark lord."**

** Ariana sat in silence for a long time. "Scorp I think that the girl in my dreams might be my aunt. Her name was Ariana Dumbledore and she died when she was young. My dad was really close to her. I think that maybe these are things that happened to her."**

** "But why would you be seeing things that happened to her so long ago?"**

** "I don't know, but I have a feeling she and I are connected in some way and I just wish I knew how."**

** There was silence as they both thought and then Scorpius got up and looked down at Ariana. "I think I should get to bed but can I ask you something?" He didn't wait for an answer before continuing. "Why were you by yourself tonight? Where was Drake?"**

** Ariana looked away from Scorpius and twirled a strand of hair around her finger. "He has a new friend and I guess he likes her or something because he hasn't spoken to me in a few days. Whatever, it doesn't really matter."**

** "Are you jealous? Do you like him?" Scorpius asked much too quickly. **

** "I am not jealous!" Ariana hissed before lowering her voice." I don't like Drake, it just sucks that my only friend in this house is now too preoccupied with his hormones to give a flip about me."**

** Scorpius seemed to relax a little. "What about James Po-"**

** "That," Ariana interjected, her voice as icy as her eyes. "Is absolutely none of your business."**

** Scorpius' face went cold. Every feature turned into stone and all he did was wave as he turned around to head for the dormitory. He had just reached the stairs when Ariana caught up with him and placed a hand on his shoulder. Ariana could tell that Scorpius was trying to keep his expression steely as he turned around to face her. She stepped closer to him and squeezed his shoulder before smiling and whispering something to him.**

** "I don't know how I feel about James or anyone else"-she looked at Scorpius meaningfully- "to tell you the truth. What I do know, however, is that I don't like anyone who can't make decisions. "**

** Scorpius looked at Ariana sadly. "Look, Ari, I want to be friends but my dad expects me to be popular and I don't want to let him down."**

** "Scorp, if your dad loves you he won't care who you hang out with as long as they are good people. I think you are a nice guy Scorpius, but I don't think I can handle being secret friends with you forever."**

** Arian turned toward the girls dormitory and as she neared the stairs Scorpius called out to her. "So we are secret friends? Well tell me then, are you staying at school for the Holidays?"**

** "I am," Ariana said, not turning around to look at Scorpius. She walked upstairs and headed to her dormitory and as she laid herself down she realized she was happier than she had been in days. She drifted quickly to sleep and had no dreams that night.**

**Hey everyone. So I was going to make this chapter bigger but I decided to separate the two parts I was going to put into it. I hope you liked it. Next time is the first Quidditch game and holidays coming up. If you like the story you should click the button down there and review. Actual even if you don't like the story, it's always good to get feedback. Thanks everyone.**

**Becca**


	13. The Game

**Magical Encounters **

**Chapter thirteen: The game.**

**Disclaimer- I think this will be the last time I post this for a couple of chapters, so jut so everyone is clear, I don't own Harry Potter.**

**Ariana woke up to bright sunlight streaming into the dormitory through the window on her right hand side. From the sounds around her, she figured that the girls around her were up and getting ready to go down to breakfast. Following their lead, Ariana got up and pulled out her brand new green and silver Quidditch robes. She put them on quickly and then observed herself in the mirror beside her bed. The robes fit her very nicely and slimmed her stomach down, but her hair was a pile of hay stacked on top of her head. Ariana grimaced at her reflection in the mirror and began to pat her hair down with one hand while the other reached for the brush that sat atop of her trunk. She tore through her hair with the brush and once she was satisfied she set it down and turned to leave the room. **

**Ariana walked into the common room to find that the entire Quidditch team was already there and talking in a tightly knit circle. Ariana pushed through and joined the circle just as Scorpius came downstairs. She cast one last glance at him before becoming immersed in Tyler's speech. **

**Tyler looked around at his team and swallowed nervously. "Okay mates this is it. This is where we show ourselves to the entire school for the first time. Now, we can either look like idiots or like badasses and I'm hoping it's the second one. Anyway we will talk more in the locker room but just be sure to eat something at breakfast and try to relax your nerves."**

**The group broke up and Ariana walked toward the door only to find her path blocked by a familiar little white cat that was holding an envelope in its mouth. Ariana leaned down and picked up Abby, hugging her tightly to her chest. Ariana walked out of the common room with Abby in her arms and headed toward the Great Hall for breakfast. Once the reached her destination she took the letter from Abby's mouth and set her on the ground, at which point Abby followed Ariana to her seat. Ariana sat near the edge of the table far from any other people and began to open her letter. It was a reply from Mary at the Orphanage and it read:**

_**Dear Ari,**_

_**How are you sweetheart? I am well and very sorry that it took so long for me to reply to your letter. We have been very busy here, seeing as a flu epidemic has hit us, but don't worry. Everyone is recovering beautifully. I read in your letter that you will be staying at school for the holidays and that's fine with me but I will miss you honey. I hope all is well over there. Have you made any friends? I hope so. Anyway nothing too new is going on here so I must say good bye for now.**_

_**Love always,**_

_**Mary.**_

**Ariana crumpled up the letter and picked at the plate of food that she had compiled for herself. Her nerves had begun to set in and her voice even shook as she looked down at Abby and asked her if she attacked an owl for the letter. Abby cocked her head at Ariana and walked away as if to say that she had no idea what Ariana was talking about. Ariana shoveled her food into her mouth just as the Great Hall began to fill up with people. Ariana caught sight of Scorpius coming into the room and her eyes left him just as he winked at her. Ariana watched as he made his way toward her and the Slytherin table and when he passed her and kept walking he dropped a small piece of parchment at her feet. **

**Ariana continued eating and when she finished she pretended to drop her fork on the floor and picked up the piece of parchment that Scorpius had dropped. After she read it she gathered herself and made her way out of the Great Hall casting her eyes toward Scorpius, meeting his eyes meaningfully and nodding very furtively before turning away. Ariana continued on her path and headed out of the Great Hall then the school. She headed to the broom shed where she would pick up Tyler's old broom which wasn't the best model but thankfully it was faster than the school brooms. In most cases players kept their brooms in their room but Ariana didn't want to keep something that wasn't hers in her trunk.**

**Ariana saw a bench in the very rear of the shed and made her way there and sat down. She sat waiting in the shed for ten minutes before there was a creak at the door and someone made their way inside. Their silhouette was the only thing Ariana could see but she was pretty sure who it was that was coming toward her in the darkness. By the time he got within three feet of her, Ariana could see that Scorpius was truthful in his note and he had indeed come to the broom shed to meet her before the game. **

**Ariana watched as he sat down next to her and sighed. "Hey. How are you?"**

"**I'm really nervous, actually. " Ariana said looking at Scorpius seriously. "This is the first game and I feel like I don't even know what I'm doing yet."**

**Scorpius put one arm around her and pulled her into an awkward but warm hug. "You will be fine Ari, I know it. Actually that's why I wanted to see you. To wish you luck in the game and let you know that I will be cheering for you from the stands."**

**Ariana looked at Scorpius and smiled at him as she pulled out of the hug. "Thanks Scorp, I appreciate that. But if that's really all you have to say then I really have to get going because I have to go to the locker room for Tyler's pep talk." **

**Scorpius nodded and told Ariana that he would wait for some time after she left to leave and then Ariana stood up and headed toward the door. Once Ariana reached the locker room she walked inside to find that everyone was there already and that an abnormal silence filed the room. She cleared her throat and instantly six heads turned to face her. She greeted everyone and then sat down on a bench facing Tyler and the rest of the team faced his as well. All but Ariana, who had calmed down after speaking to Scorpius, wore horrified expressions on their faces. **

**Tyler looked out at their faces and drew a deep breath before speaking. "So this is it everyone. The first game. I know that everyone has worked really hard in practice but now it's time to show everyone what we are made of. Jacob, Edmund, do not let any bludgers touch a single person on our team. Sophia, stay away from the action so you can keep a lookout for the golden snitch. Drake, do whatever you can to keep the quaffle out of our goal posts. Brooke, always be ready for the pass never let it take you by surprise. Ari, if you can manage to use that arm of yours to land a goal within the first five minutes, then the game will be as good as ours." Tyler looked at all the faces around him before his eyes settled on Ariana's. "I'm putting you in the front line. Try to get possession of the quaffle right away and try to get it to me or Brooke ASAP. That way we can confuse them."**

**Tyler looked out at the whole team now. "We can do this guys. The Gryffindor team is good, but we are better. They haven't won a cup since Harry potter himself was seeker and they have a lot of weaknesses. They can't do long range passes and their keeper is very weak on his left side. As for their seeker, James Potter, well he is good I'll admit, but he is new to this and he tends to be a little too confident sometimes. His cockiness is his weakness so fake him out. We can do this team, now let's go out there and show them what we've got. "**

**Ariana smiled at Tyler then stood up and followed the rest of the team out of the locker room and into the Quidditch Pitch. The walk seemed longer than usual to Ariana but once they entered the stadium Ariana felt a rush of adrenaline pulse through her. All around the stadium sat students of her school who were on their feet and cheering as the teams headed onto the field. Ariana couldn't see any specifics, seeing as the seats were set so high up, but she was sure that Scorpius was in the stands cheering. **

**The team situated themselves in the middle of the Quiddtich Pitch as the Gryffindor captain stepped forward to shake Tyler's hand. Once they were done Ariana and the team spread out to their positions, Ariana walking to the very center of the pitch and facing the Gryffindor chaser. Ariana didn't recognize him but somewhere behind him she saw the faces of James, Fred, and Roxanne. Madam Hooch was also on the field and she was getting closer and closer to the center of the field. Madam Hooch reached Ariana just as Ariana took a deep and calming breath to focus herself. Stepping in the middle Ariana and the other chaser, Madam Hooch looked at all the players around her before bringing her wand up to her throat and using it to magnify her voice. **

"**Welcome everyone to the first Quidditch match of the season, Slytherin versus Gryffindor. The teams are as follows: Leading the Slytherin team this year we have Tyler Shutowick. He is a third year chaser and his fellow chasers are Brooke Tyler, third year, and Ariana Dumbledore, first year. The beaters for the Slytherin team are Jacob Kitain, fifth year, and Edmund Black, sixth year. The keeper is Drake Zambini, a second year, and the seeker is second year Sophia Kitain." Madam Hooch took a second to breathe. "And on the Gryffindor team we have fourth year Sookie Lovegood leading the team as a chaser, with her fellow chasers being Bianca Finnigan, a fifth year, and Roma Patil-Summers, a seventh year. Guarding the hoops we have Joseph Ramirez, a fifth year, and the seeker of this year's team is James Potter, second year. To finish off the team we have the Weasley siblings as the two beaters, Third year Fred Weasley and first year Roxanne Weasley. Now I hope we all have a good game. On my whistle the game begins." **

**Madam Hooch released the bludgers and the golden snitch and then reached down toward the chest Ariana had only just noticed was at her feet and grabbed the big red ball that was the quaffle. She drew her whistle to her mouth and held it there. Then, as she threw the quaffle into the air she blew into the whistle and the game begun. **

**Ariana narrowed her eyes, pushed off instantly, and took hold of the quaffle before the Gryffindor chaser had even gotten fully airborne. She looked wildly around and spotted Brooke to her left. Reminding herself mentally that this was just a pass, and therefore had to be softer, Ariana threw the quaffle in Brooke's direction and waited till she caught it and zoomed toward the goal posts to follow alongside her. The Gryffindor captain was flying right behind them and Ariana watched as she pushed Brooke and caused her to drop the quaffle. Ariana followed the quaffle and swooped down below Brooke's broom to catch the ball and continue toward the goal post. **

**Lovegood came up beside Ariana and Ariana knew at once that she was going to push onto her like she did with Brooke. Ariana looked to her left and dropped down three feet just as a bludger went past her previous position and slammed into Sookie's arm. Ariana heard the girl cry out in pain but the sound faded quickly as Ariana continued down the field. Suddenly Ariana was surrounded by the other two Gryffindor chasers. She looked around her to find that Tyler was flying near her attempting to bump the chasers off of her. Ariana watched as the two girls exchanged a look and suddenly a thought that wasn't hers entered her mind. **

_**We are so going to sandwich her, just like we practiced. **_

**The girly voice left her mind as quickly as it came and Ariana saw one of the girls nod at the other. Before she even had time to register if she thought what she had heard was true or not, Ariana dropped down and the two girls slammed into one another. Ariana banked to the left and passed the quaffle to Tyler as the girls rebounded off of each other and headed for her. Within a moment the chasers had realized that Ariana was no longer in possession of the quaffle and they headed toward Tyler, then Brooke, then back to Tyler. Ariana followed as Tyler and Brooke neared the goal posts where Joseph was patrolling, back and forth, watching the three of them carefully. **

**Tyler looked at Ariana and gave her a small nod as he faked a throw in the right goal hoop and instead threw to Ariana on his left. Ariana flew forward and grabbed the ball when it was just feet in front of the left goal hoop. The quaffle left her hands as quickly as it came because Ariana instantly threw the quaffle into the hoop in front of her. As if in slow motion the keeper turned toward her ad saw the quaffle fly into the goal. He flew to the goal post but he was much too late. The crowd quieted for a second before realizing what had happened then in the relative silence a voice rang out.**

"**The first year Dumbledore chaser scores!" He shouted. "Slytherin leads ten to nothing."**

**Ariana smiled to herself as the chasers reset and the crowd roared. Tyler flew beside her as they waited for the quaffle to be released again into the throng. She heard Tyler tell her to watch her back now because the other team now knew how good she was and she nodded back at him just as the quaffle was thrown again into the game by Madam Hooch. Sookie took possession for her team and started making her way to the Slytherin goal posts. Ariana flew after her just as Brooke and Tyler got on either side of her. In despair Lovegood passed the quaffle to one of her fellow chasers who saw that a bludger was coming toward her and threw the ball toward the third chaser just as the bludger hit. **

**Ariana leaned forward on her broom and headed toward the chaser. Just as the girl stretched her arms out to catch the quaffle, Ariana intercepted the pass and took the quaffle into her arms. With all the others chasers caught up at that end of the pitch Ariana zoomed toward Ramirez again. She heard a whistling to her right and saw that a bludger was heading toward her. She banked to the right and dropped slightly so that the bludger would miss her. She heard a whack from her left and saw that Roxanne had sent that same bludger right back at her. Ariana pushed off her broom instinctively and came off of it and into the air. The bludger flew underneath her and then she landed roughly back into her broom. When she landed she leaned her body down to escape the same bludger that Fred had now batted her way. They were passing it between each other in an attempt to stop her. **

**Roxanne had hit the bludger again and Ariana was just about to drop down to escape it when Edmund showed up to her right and hit the bludger back at Roxanne. Roxanne was taken by surprise and nearly fell off her broom to escape the bludger. Ariana looked to her left to see Fred getting hit by the other bludger just as Jacob showed up beside her and winked. Sensing that there was not much else they could do, Roxanne and Fred headed to the goal post to help their keeper. Ariana watched as they each took a hoop and waited for her to try to score. Ariana took a deep breath and flew directly toward the middle goal post, toward Joseph. Edmund and Jacob fell behind her as she pushed forward and as soon as she was five feet within the goal post Ariana threw the quaffle, aiming directly for Joseph.**

**Ariana held nothing back on her throw this time and the ball whipped so fast toward the keeper that even Roxanne and Fred looked shocked. Joseph stretched his hands out and prepared to catch the quaffle but once it got to him it was clear that he was in over his head. The quaffle flew through his fingers and slammed harshly into his stomach. Ariana heard the thump as the quaffle hit and she saw the boy's face contort into a mask of pain. The ball had hit with such ferocity that Joseph was knocked backward off his broom and into the hoop. Ariana zoomed forward and caught the boy as he fell toward the ground, unconscious.**

**Ariana heard a whistle and Madam Hooch's voice rang out in the pitch. "Time out. Miss Dumbledore, please touch down."**

**Ariana headed toward the ground and landed near Madam Hooch. "Yes Madam?"**

"**When you knock someone off their broom you are supposed to let them fall dear." Madam Hooch said. "But I think it's best if we wake him up. Hold him steady now. Aguamenti!"**

**Madam Hoch pointed her wand at the boy and he was immediately doused with water. He woke with a start and pushed off of Ariana to stand on his own. Once he was alright, Madam Hooch looked at the two of them. "Alright back in you go," She began, but then she drew her wand up to her throat and her voice boomed once more. "On my whistle the game will begin again with Slytherin leading by twenty points. A warning to you all. Leave the keeping to the keeper or this could happen again. Another member may only fill another's position if the member to whom the position belongs is unable to fill it."**

**Madam Hooch aloud Ariana and Joseph to fly into the air before she blew her whistle and threw the quaffle in. The chaos began anew and the Gryffindor team was in possession. Ariana was chasing after the chasers when two people zoomed past her, Sophia and James. She paid no mind to them and just as she reached the group of chasers, Sookie threw the ball toward the hoops. Drake veered left and swatted the quaffle directly into Ariana's hand. **

**The Gryffindor team was in a frenzy as Ariana made her way down to face Joseph once again. Ariana heard the crowd roaring in her ears and pushed her broom forward even faster; no one was able to touch her. She got to the goal posts in no time and flew toward the right goal post. Joseph followed her quickly, determined to stop her from scoring. Ariana smirked and threw the quaffle in the other direction and scored. The crowd roared so loud that Ariana couldn't even hear the announcer tell the crowd the score. Ariana prepared to reset her position when the announcer's voice rang out again and Ariana forced herself to hear it. **

"**Sophia Kitain has caught the golden snitch, earning the Slytherin team one hundred and fifty points. Sophia ends the game with Slytherin at one hundred and eighty points, Gryffindor, nothing. SLYTHERIN WINS!"**

**Ariana rushed to the ground and joined a massive group hug that was taking place in the middle of the field. Once she joined her team they all fell onto the grass of the field and laughed joyously as their supporters joined them on the field. Ariana managed to pull herself out of the tangled mess that was the Slytherin team just as Albus and Rose reached her. **

**Albus smiled at her. "You were amazing! I don't even care that we lost, you were just so good."**

**Rose nodded in agreement just as Fred, Roxanne, and James came into view behind her. Roxanne rushed over to Ariana and gave her a huge hug. "You were amazing!"**

**Fred interjected before she could say anything else. "You are the best chaser I have ever seen. When you dodged that bludger! It was unbelievable!"**

**Ariana thanked them before looking toward James and biting her lip. James looked a little down at having lost but he still smiled at Ariana and flipped his hair out of his eyes. "You were awesome Ari."**

**He leaned closer and kissed Ariana on the cheek. Ariana jumped back shocked and chuckled nervously and told them all that they had been great as well, while her friends walked away and left the Slytherins to celebrate with their supporters on the field. Ariana saw a flash of golden hair to her left and turned to meet Scorpius' gray gaze. He looked upset for some reason but he managed to twist his mouth into a smile and wink at her before looking away. Ariana turned back to her team to see Sophia untangle herself from the midst and rush to a Blonde boy who took her in his arms warmly and kissed her full on the mouth. Ariana looked away and saw that Drake had seen the whole thing and was walking dejectedly away from the crowd. Ariana frowned and went after him.**

"**Hey," Ariana began as she reached Drake's side. "That was an awesome save! You were so good."**

**Drake smiled at her but it didn't reach his eyes. "Yeah, I guess. But I didn't get the girl."**

"**Then that's her fault." Ariana said, stepping in front of him and stopping him. "She won't be with that guy forever and when they break up then you can go for it but for right now you just won your first game and you should be happy."**

**Drake looked at Ariana and smiled his true, one million dollar smile at her. "You're right, let's go celebrate."**

**The party in the common room that night was awesome. Not a soul bothered Ariana. In fact most people were even a little nice to her and her usual tormentors left her alone. Ariana hung out with Drake for most of the night but once he decided to go to bed Ariana looked around the common room to find Scorpius talking to some girl. The instant she looked at him he looked at her and looked away before the girl could notice. Ariana didn't really know what he wanted to do but she decided she would just have to see him in the morning. **

**Ariana was just getting up when she heard Scorpius' voice ring out in the room. "My father is taking me and my mom to the country for the break. I suppose everyone goes away huh?"**

**Ariana was so exhausted that she didn't pay him, or the girl who answered, any mind and headed toward the dormitory as fast as her drowsy feet would carry her. Once she reached the dormitory she kicked off her shoes and threw herself onto her bed. She was asleep before she could even pull the covers over herself.**

**The next day Ariana woke to complete silence and lifted her head up to see that there was no one in the room around her. She lifted herself off the bed and rubbed her eyes. Looking around she saw that Abby was asleep at the foot of her bed and she very quietly changed her clothes and went down to the common room. She couldn't see anyone. Ariana walked over and sunk into her favorite chair and looked at the grandfather clock curiously. Breakfast had just ended, Ariana realized sadly as her stomach growled. She figured that at any moment people would start returning from their fill of waffles and fruit and whatever else had been available today. **

**Ten minutes passed and still no one appeared. Just as Ariana was about to get up and leave to go look for everyone Scorpius appeared through the hole in the wall carrying two plates with every type of breakfast food you could imagine. Ariana raised her eyebrows at him and blinked as he sat down in the chair next to her and laid the plates down on the coffee table in front of them. **

**Scorpius smirked at her expression. "I didn't know what you liked so I got a little of everything. Good morning sleepy head."**

**Ariana's mouth began to water as she looked at all the food but she swallowed and looked at Scorpius quizzically. "Not that I don't appreciate this, but where is everyone?"**

**Scorpius' smile was nearly blinding. "We are everyone. You missed it, but everyone went home this morning and we are the only ones left of the whole Slytherin house."**

**Ariana's mouth dropped open and her face held a questioning look that Scorpius caught immediately. "I told everyone I was going away so they wouldn't get any ideas about staying behind and ruining this for us." Before Ariana could ask what he meant he continued. "I know it's not perfect, but for a few weeks we don't have to be secret friends, we can be real friends."**

**Ariana smiled at him, her blue eyes shining, but just as she was about to speak her stomach growled and Scorpius chuckled at her. "You can thank me later, but for now just eat before you faint from hunger."**

**Ariana laughed and did exactly what he had said.**

**Ok so that's it for this chapter. I hope everyone liked it. If you did or didn't let me know by reviewing. If you have a critique that's good too. Thanks for reading. Please review or I will be sad =[ Keep in mind that any questions you may have shall be answered in time.**

**Becca. **


	14. Christmas

**Magical Encounters**

**Chapter fourteen: Christmas**

** Scorpius jumped as he opened his eyes to find Ariana staring down at him. He scrambled up to a sitting position, pulled his covers up to cover his bare torso and looked at Ariana in absolute shock. Ariana giggled at him and sat down beside him on the bed. **

** "Good morning," Ariana began while playfully messing up Scorpius' bed head. "I can't believe you weren't up early. It's Christmas you goof." **

** Scorpius rubbed his eyes and put his hands in his lap, letting the covers fall down and expose his chest once more. "Oh, Merry Christmas." **

** "Come on," Ariana whispered excitedly all the while getting up and tugging at Scorpius' arm. "Let's go open our presents."**

** Scorpius began to get up when suddenly he stopped himself. "Get out."-Shock and hurt played across Ariana's face- "Please, I have to get dressed."**

** Ariana breathed a sigh of relief and nodded to Scorpius. She turned and skipped merrily out of the room. "Meet you downstairs in the common room."**

** Scorpius threw his covers off and reached down to the floor. He picked up a shirt and gave it a whiff. Satisfied that it smelled relatively clean, Scorpius pulled it up over his head and began to head for the door. Walking warily around the pile of clothes by his bed, Scorpius made a mental note clean up his part of the dormitories before the other boys came to school and saw. Scorpius reached the door quickly and swung the door open to head down the corridor. He bolted down the stairs and shifted his direction just before he collided with Ariana who was waiting for him at the foot of the stairs. **

** Ariana wasted no time and instantly took Scorpius by the hand and dragged him to the Christmas tree that was present in the middle of the common room. Once they reached it Scorpius watched as Ariana dropped herself down onto the floor and looked up at him expectantly. Scorpius rolled his eyes and set himself down onto the floor gently while laughing at how excited Ariana appeared.**

** "You go first. "Arian said, shoving a present his way. "Make sure you read who it's from and the card and everything."**

** Scorpius took the present in his hands and tugged at the shinning emerald wrapping paper before Ariana abruptly slapped his hand away. "What did I just say Scorp. Card first."**

** Scorpius glared at Ariana and greedily grabbed the silver card attached to the wrapping paper. "It's from my parents."-Scorpius cleared his throat- "It says. Dear Scorpius, Your father and I are very upset that you chose to stay at school for the holidays but we figure you will be alright at the school. We miss you very much and hope you have a wonderful Christmas. Love, mom and dad. Can I open it now?"**

** Ariana nodded and Scorpius began tugging harshly on the wrapper. He pulled the last of the emerald paper off to reveal a relatively large box. Scorpius opened the box and tipped it over to spill its contents onto the floor. Boxes of candy instantly fell onto the floor and Scorpius looked up at Ariana with a weak smile, tossing her a box of Bertie Bott's every flavored beans and a chocolate frog. **

** "They always get me candy."Scorpius said, opening up his own chocolate frog and shoving it into his mouth. "Usually we also take a trip but obviously not this year. Your turn."**

** Scorpius watched as Ariana grabbed a large rectangular package. "The note in the card is huge. It's even on other pieces of paper."-Ariana looked up at Scorpius who shrugged and nodded at her to continue-"Alright the actual card has Mary's signature,"- Scorpius' face had a confused look on it- "She was the person who ran the orphanage. Anyway it says: Dear Ari, we got a letter from your school that said you made the Quidditch team so all of us here and your friends at Hogwarts contacted each other and got this. I hope you like it. Love, Mary." –Ariana paused for a second and there was a rustle of parchment until she pulled out one of the attached pieces of paper-"This one is from Rose, Fred, Roxanne, and their family. It says: Dear, Ariana. A woman named Mary contacted all of us and asked us if we would like to pitch in for your gift. We couldn't resist. Love, the Weasleys."- Another rustle, and Ariana pulled out the last piece of parchment-"This is the last one. It says: Dear Ari, you are going to go crazy for this gift. I am so glad that Mary lady found me. I hope you like it. Love, Albus."**

** Ariana was practically shaking with excitement when she finished reading the letters and she tore at the bright blue wrapping paper crazily. The wrapping paper cleared to reveal a box and Ariana's hands trembled as she lifted the lid and gasped. Scorpius peaked over Ariana's shoulder and his mouth dropped open as he saw what was inside.**

** It was the fastest broomstick in the world. The Lightning Bolt. Scorpius had to restrain himself from reaching out and taking the broom himself but thankfully he didn't have to for too long. Ariana pulled out the broomstick and pushed the box away from her.**

** Scorpius, who realized that no more presents really mattered after the Lightning Bolt, quickly tore through the rest of the presents. Nothing really stood out to him and before he knew it he had his last present sitting in front of him. Glancing left to Ariana, who was still holding the broomstick opened mouthed, and grabbed the card stuck to the outside of the metallic blue wrapping paper. Scorpius' eyebrows came together once he saw the name that was sighed on the card and cleared his throat, making Ariana turn to look at him. **

** "This is my last gift," Scorpius started, speaking slowly. "And it's from you." –He tore through the wrapping paper quickly and opened the box that was revealed- "You know Ari, you didn't have to get me anything, I know I have been a bit of a jer-"**

** Scorpius was at a loss for words. Out of the cardboard box in front of him, a pair of big orange eyes were blinking innocently up at him. Scorpius reached into the box and pulled out a beautiful dark brown owl whose coat glinted in the green light of the common room. Scorpius looked at Ariana with his eyes wide and saw that she was smiling at him hugely and waiting for what he was going to say.**

** "You got me an owl?" He asked her while he began to pet the owl on its soft and feathery coat. "Bloody hell Ari, I don't know what to say. Thank you."**

** Ariana set her broomstick down and scooted closer to Scorpius. "Well, I noticed that you always used the school owls to take you r post and I thought you might enjoy having a pet. I think it will be good for you. I got him from the owl emporium. They sent him here this morning and that's why I rushed you down here. It couldn't stay in there for too long you know."**

** "Thank you so much Ari. I love it." Scorpius said pulling Ariana into a tight little hug.**

** Ariana smiled and reached out her hand to pet the owl. "So what are you going to name him?"**

** Scorpius eyes narrowed and he looked at the owl carefully until his gaze finally rested on the owls enormous orange eyes. "Citrus. I am going to call him Citrus. You like that little one?"- He met eyes with the creature in front of him who chirped in response- "I think that's a yes."**

** Ariana smiled and reached for her next present which was just an envelope. "It's from the headmistress. It says: Dear Miss Dumbledore, I hope you are happy with your Christmas gifts but I have an important message for you. As you may have read in your school books in the headmistresses' office there are portraits of all the previous headmasters and mistresses. Well, since the very start of term one particular portrait has been asking to see you and by my word he will get his wishes. I am away on important business and will return after the Quidditch match that will be held in February. Upon my return I shall send you a letter requesting that you meet me in my office. Please be safe until then. Sincerely, Headmistress McGonagall."**

** Ariana pushed the letter away and looked up at Scorpius, her face skeptical. "Bloody hell the way she said that last part gave me goose bumps. 'Please be safe until then'. Makes it seem like she knows something bad is going to happen." **

** Scorpius waited while Ariana thought about the letter and then decidedly grabbed the last present under the Christmas tree. "This one is from me. It's not too much but I hope you like it."**

** Ariana blinked and came out of her reverie when he said this and then, seeing as there was no card, she began to open the box in front of her. Ariana put her hands inside the box and pulled out three things. One was a blank photo album, the other was a camera, and the last was a smaller box. Ariana laid the gifts down in front of her and then began to open the smaller box. **

** Inside the box was a white gold charm bracelet with a single charm hanging on it. Ariana lifted it out of the box to see that the charm was also white gold and was shaped to be a little snowflake. Ariana then looked at Scorpius and smiled. **

** "Scorp." She began. "It's beautiful. Thank you so much." **

** "Yeah," Scorpius said, clearing his throat. "No big deal. The uh, camera ensures that you take moving pictures every time, I thought that was cool. It's instant too. The pictures print right away. Like a Polaroid, I was told."**

** Ariana picked up the camera and scooted right up next to Scorpius. "That's awesome! It rocks Scorp, now smile."**

** No sooner had Scorpius raised his eyebrows and lifted his mouth into an awkward smile, then the flash and click of the camera went off and Ariana backed away from him. She waited patiently and when the picture had printed she shook it and waited for the results. Scorpius leaned in next to her and looked upon the photo just as the picture appeared. In the picture Ariana was smiling largely and looking back and forth between him and the camera, while the Scorpius in the picture made expressions of confusion and skepticism. Ariana and Scorpius both burst out laughing.**

** The rest of the Holidays went by quickly and Ariana and Scorpius spent them outside riding Ariana's new broom. They also soon discovered that Abby, who never saw owls as friends, was willing to accept Citrus and vice versa. One thing that the Holidays were short on was not happiness nor fun, but foresight. Not one word was spoken by either of them about what was going to happen once the Slytherins returned but they both knew nothing had changed and that everything would go back to the way it was before. They would be secret friends and no one would be the wiser.**

** Hey everyone. I hope you all liked this chapter but it was more of a fluff chapter then anything. Next time is the Quidditch matches but things are going to start to hit a faster pace. Stick around. **

**Becca**


	15. You Say Goodbye and I Say Hello

**Magical Encounters**

**Chapter 15: You Say Good-Bye and I Say Hello**

**Disclaimer: I do not own HP =[**

**The first week back from the Holidays was uneventful and fairly unpleasant for Ariana. She had caught a terrible cold from having a snowball fight and it wasn't until she had a high fever that she conceded to going to the hospital wing and being magically relieved of her sickness. However, until such point, Ariana found herself spending most of her spare time sleeping and even forgot to do a homework assignment or two, and so her first week of school went by without a single praise and without much time spent with Scorpius.**

**Ariana awoke the next Monday and stretched quickly before jumping out of bed and putting on her robes. She reached to her bedside table to reach for her wand to find Abby looking at her questioningly. Ariana smiled and patted the tiny white cats head lovingly before scooping the cat up into her arms and heading down to the Slytherin common room silently, do as to not disturb her still sleeping roommates.**

**Ariana walked into a nearly empty common room and squinted her eyes to adjust to the dim green glow that instantly surrounded her. Abby squirmed to get more comfortable in Ariana's arms and began to meow. It was as Ariana was looking down at her cat and shushing her that she ran into something, or rather someone.**

**Drake looked down at her and produced one of his amazing smiles as he steadied her to prevent her from falling. "Hey there Ari, I missed you."**

**"Hey Drake," Ariana began as she was lead onto the loveseat of the common room. "I missed you too, how was your holiday?"**

**Drake threw himself carelessly into the couch and took Abby from Ariana. "It was alright, my mum and dad gave me loads of stuff, and I think they feel bad about Sophia. I loved your gift though! I have wanted a broom polishing kit for as long as I could remember. Thanks mate!"**

**Drake began to play with Abby as Ariana answered. "Great, I was hoping you would like it, took me forever to decide what to get you. I got your gift too-" Ariana hesitated as Drake began to roll Abby around his lap again and again causing the cat to begin meowing in protest. "-It came a day or two late but I have to tell you it is quite possibly enough candy to last me till next Christmas."**

**Drake turned toward her and gave her a smile. "Are you feeling better?" He now proceeded to take turns tugging gently on each of Abby's paws, Ariana squirmed beside him uncomfortably. "I didn't see you at all last week, I was worried. Then when I found you skipped a homework assignment, I knew you were seriously ill. I f you hadn't taken yourself to the nurse, I would have dragged you over there myself."**

**Drake absently reached for Abby's tail and Ariana quickly grabbed his arm. He looked at her and raised his eyebrows. In response Ariana smiled sheepishly at him and slid her hand down to take his own. "Why don't we head down to breakfast? I finally feel good enough to eat a full meal and I want to get there before my tormentors do."**

**Drake nodded and released Abby who jumped onto the floor and under the nearby chair for protection. Ariana sent the cat a small, apologetic smile before rising out of her seat and heading to the door of the common room. It was then that she saw Scorpius for the first time in what seemed like forever. He was standing by the door with a group of Slytherins and as she neared him Ariana thought she saw fear flash on his face, but it was gone before she could confirm it and she and Drake drew closer and closer to Scorpius until at last Scorpius group had spotted them and blocked their passage.**

**"Well speak of the devil," began a rude, sharp faced Slytherin first year girl Ariana knew to be called Elaine. "How were your holidays Dumbledore? Any more night terrors?"**

**Ariana ignored her and tried to walk past the group and through the door but two boys stood in her way smirking at her before turning to Elaine and Scorpius as if waiting for orders.**

**"Where do you think you are going Dumbledore?" Elaine taunted. "I just want to talk to you. You know, I mentioned you to my parents. They were awfully curious about you and I must admit I am quite curious now too. Why are you here Dumbledore? You don't belong here. No Dumbledore should ever be in Slytherin."**

**"It's not as if I had a choice!" Ariana spat back, "I don't want to be here as much as you don't want me here, but the hat put me in this house and that's it."**

**Elaine chuckled and looked around at her group of friends, all of whom decided to join in on her amusement. Even Scorpius gave a halfhearted smirk when she looked at him before becoming very interested in his shoelaces. "It's funny you mention that Ariana," Elaine enunciated every syllable in Ariana's name and stepped closer to Ariana with every one of them. Drake made to step forward and in between the two girls but Ariana held him back with a look shot quickly in his direction. "I said that to my parents, and they said that more often than not the sorting hat listens to what the sortee asks for. It's unusual for the hat to go against a kids wishes and if it does then there is a good chance that the kid belongs in there for some reason that might even be unknown to the person themselves."**

**Elaine stopped about six inches from Ariana before continuing. "They told me to stay away from you, they think you will be dangerous and that you are hiding something. See, my parents think I'm an angel and want me to be safe, but if you are really what they think you are," Elaine held her hands out to Ariana, "Then I think you and I could make a great team."**

**Elaine smiled wickedly at Ariana with her hand held out. Ariana looked at Scorpius who was staring at Elaine completely confused. He turned toward Ariana and shrugged his shoulders almost imperceptibly. Ariana could tell by the look on his face that he wanted her to be friends with Elaine. To Scorpius this would solve absolutely all of his problems. Ariana would be accepted into his circle of friends and probably would be soon after accepted by his parents, he would no longer have to play two roles, and he and Ariana would not have to be "secret friends".**

**With this in mind, Ariana made to grab hold of her hand. But suddenly a voice spoke to her, a man's voice.**

**_ Do not do this Ariana, do not give up the chance to be good. You take her hand and you will make the choice to give into your past, turn away, and you can forge your own path. A new path._**

**Ariana shook her head quickly and withdrew her and suddenly, causing Elaine, who had been about to grab Ariana's hand to jump with shock at the surprising rejection. Ariana walked even closer to Elaine and locked eyes with her. Icy blue eyes translated onto jade green what Ariana's words failed to convey. "I don't think I want to be friends with someone who only likes me because I might have some bad inside me. " Ariana gave Scorpius a meaningful glance as she said the next few words. "I want my friends to like me for me and just so you know Elaine, everyone has bad in them. But the people who give into the bad, they become evil."**

**Ariana turned away from the group and toward Drake who was beaming at her. She nodded at him and smiled before they both pushed past the two boys blocking their passage and made their way out of the common room. It wasn't until she and Drake had sat down at the breakfast table, far away from Scorpius and company, that Ariana felt the suffocating pain in her gut that seemed to spell out that things were going to get very complicated very soon.**

**Ariana touched down on the ground lightly and felt her knees buckle suddenly. She felt herself falling slowly toward the ground and was about to put her hands out for support when she was caught by someone who hoisted her up onto their shoulder. Ariana smiled and pulled her broomstick out from under her so she could use it as a cane. When she felt comfortable that she could hold herself up without any other prop but her broom, Ariana pushed off of the body that was holding her up and looked into the face of her helper.**

**"How is it that you are always there when I need you, Dra-" Ariana stopped midsentence as she realized she was looking at grey eyes and not the hazel eyes of her familiar comrade, Drake. "Scorpius, what do you want?"**

**Scorpius looked thoroughly defeated when he captured the annoyance in her voice. He looked down at his shoes and mumbled his words while twiddling his thumbs. "I came to watch you practice Ari. I, uh, I miss you. We haven't spoken since the holidays and I thought maybe I could catch you alone."**

**Ariana watched as Scorpius forced himself to look up at her, his eyes pleading for understanding. "Scorp, it's not that complicated. "Ariana sighed and began walking toward the castle. She soon noticed that Scorpius had stayed back and was still looking down at his feet. Thus, with a quick look around to make sure no one was looking, Ariana back tracked toward Scorpius and took him, by the hand up to the castle.**

**"Like I was saying," Ariana continued. "It's not that big a deal Scorp. We knew that this was going to happen. I'm not angry at you or anything I just can't really talk to you very often because you are with Elaine and the rest of them all the time."**

**Scorpius suddenly stopped and pulled his hand out of Ariana's so quickly that she spun around to face him, her eyebrows knotted together at his expression of anger. "Well it's not as if you are the easiest person to get a hold of either Ariana. Every time I see you, you're with that Drake fellow. It's like you two are glued at the bloody hip. He isn't even that great, I bet you just love his nice dark skin and his bloody smile and hi-."**

**Scorpius stopped short when he caught sight of Ariana's face. "Excuse me?" Ariana stepped closer to Scorpius and looked at him right in the eyes. "What makes you think you have any kind of right to tell me who I can and cannot be friends with, Malfoy. In case you haven't noticed, other than my teammates at practice, I have no one who talks to me other than Drake and I'm not going to give that up just because you're jealous!"**

**"Jealous?" Scorpius shouted. "It's not jealousy. Why on Earth would I be jealous of that bloody prick."**

**"Oh he is the prick? I'm sure." Ariana turned toward the castle and began to walk away, knowing that Scorpius would follow. "And you have no reason to be jealous, like hell!"**

**"Fine, if you're so clever then, why am I so jealous?"**

**"Because Drake is actually my friend, he isn't pretending to be something he isn't to people who are clearly into dark magic. I don't know what's wrong with you Scorp. Who cares about what people think as long as you have a few friends who love you for you. I could do that for you Scorp, but not if you are going to hang out with people who only think I'm alright because they think I'm evil." Ariana stopped for a second to wipe her eyes. " I don't understand why you can't be the guy I know you are and you know what? Fine. If you don't want our friendship to be open, it doesn't have to be. But don't you dare give me crap about hanging out with Drake so much. I like him for him and he likes me for me, regardless of what anyone else thinks, and that's way more than I can say for you."**

**Scorpius opened his mouth to argue, but Ariana quickly cut him off. "Look, Scorp, I can't do this anymore. You need to figure out which guy you want to be and let me know when you figure it out. I can't be friends with someone who cannot stand up for who and what he believes in. And newsflash, if your parents love you, they will deal with whatever you choose to do. Figure it out, Scorp, because I'm waiting for you to find yourself.**

**Ariana gave Scorpius a teary and shaky smile before turning away from him and walking quickly up to the school. Scorpius stood looking after her for a long time before kicking at the dirt at his feet and stomping off to the castle with a giant choice on his shoulders.**

**That's it for this chapter. I hope you all liked it. The next on involves a lot of important plot events so don't miss out. See you guys later =]**


	16. The Other Side

Chapter 16: Expectations and Realities

Disclaimer- I don't own HP =[

It was finally here. The day of the Hufflepuff versus Slytherin game and Ariana woke up to the sound of an owl tapping its beak against the window beside her back. Ariana's eyes fluttered open and she looked toward the window just in time to see Abby fling herself off the bed and run, head first, into the glass while the owl simply looked forward and acted as if nothing had happened. Ariana winced as the sound came to her and she jostled the covers off of herself and made her way toward the window, picking up Abby and petting her head on the way.

Ariana shook the window open and instantly felt the fresh and new February air sweep into the room. This was the first day of the month of love and Ariana couldn't help but scowl as she realized that Valentine's Day was right around the corner. Ariana brushed off the thought and reached toward the owl to take the letter that was attached to its leg. The owl took off quickly and Ariana shut the window instantly to avoid making her roommates stir in their sleep.

Ariana shuffled over to her bed and plopped down silently, placing a still slightly disoriented Abby beside her. She then tore at her envelope and pulled out the letter within. The paper was pink and had a flowered border around the sides. Ariana recognized the design instantly. This letter came from Mary at the orphanage. Now, Ariana hastily opened the paper up and was unbearably disappointed to find that the paper contained a very small amount of Mary's twisting cursive script. Ariana sighed and began to read:

Dear Ari,

I hope everything has been alright with you since you got over that nasty cold, I was recently under the weather myself but I'm all better now. Thank goodness too, because some of the smaller ones were trying to take care of me by making soup out of mud. Anyway, I wanted to wish you luck on your upcoming game. I'm sending this letter in hopes that it reaches you before the game against the creampuffs, but if it doesn't I know it doesn't matter because you will be great anyway. Good luck honey, I miss you very much.

Love, Mary

Ariana set the letter down on her bedside table and giggled silently at Mary's mistaken name for the Hufflepuffs. She then set about getting ready for the game, reasoning that she would be way too rushed if she wrote back now. Ariana wanted to avoid the hustle and bustle which came with changing in the girls' locker room when Tyler is seconds away from giving a pep talk in the boys' locker room, and so she changed directly into her quidditch uniform. Around the time Ariana made it out of the dormitory, her roommates had begun to wake up and get ready to go down to breakfast. She grabbed her broomstick, made her way out of the bedchamber, and then out of the Slytherin common room quickly and walked by herself down to the Great Hall.

Ariana walked into the Hall and was surprised to find that her entire team was already eating at the table. Ariana found a seat beside Drake, picked out a Bagel, and began to spread cream cheese on it. Even with her eyes fixed pointedly at the bagel in her hands, Ariana could feel the tension within the members of the team. Ariana, however, did not feel the least bit nervous and so when she finished fixing up her bagel, she reached for and took hold of Drakes hand.

Drake jump half a foot into the air. It seemed that he had not realized that Ariana had been sitting beside him up until this point. Drake met Ariana's warm smile with a look of anxiety but his face instantly dissolved into one of his award-winning smiles and it was when this exchange occurred that Ariana heard a mumble behind her followed by the sound of someone clearing their throat.

Ariana and Drake both whipped their heads toward the noise; hands still intertwined, and saw their least favorite group of people, including Elaine and Scorpius.

Elaine was the first to speak, clearing her throat once again she said, "I quite agree Scorpius, people should keep their feelings personal and not make a deal of them in public." Elaine sneered at both Drake and Ariana before turning only to the latter. "I don't know what you are so happy about. Do you even get how important this game could be for you?"

Ariana looked blankly at Elaine before noticing the look on Scorpius's face. He was intently glaring at Ariana's hand, the one that held Drake's. Ariana slowly released Drakes hand before fixing her face into a mask of exhaustion and clearing her throat. "Look, Elaine, can you just leave me alone for today? Just today, please?"

Elaine chuckled, causing her posse to follow. All except Scorpius who was now glaring at Drake with such intensity that Drake had taken to looking down at his watch every few seconds. "Me? I'm trying to help you Ariana. Maybe you have ruined your chances to be friends with the right sort of people, "Elaine looked around at her friends and nodded to make her point. "But most Slytherins are indifferent to you. Who knows, maybe you could develop some fans today and turn your pathetic life around. I believe that's quite a lot to ride on a game that you are so ill concerned with. But anyway, don't lose today."

Ariana scoffed as Elaine and her group went away. Scorpius attempted to smile at her and she coldly looked away from him, but despite her calm demeanor and collected exterior, she could not shake the truth in Elaine's words. This game could change everything. The first win could have been seen as simply a test run and now it was time for the real test of her skill. If she succeeded today as a chaser, her peers might finally choose to talk to her, a choice which had not been made due to the fact that none of them believed she was where she belonged.

Ariana was safely mounted on her broomstick and awaiting madam Hootch's whistle when she first felt it. An incredible sense of dread had suddenly filled her stomach and Ariana was unable to shake it no matter how much she tried. She caught a glimpse of Madam Hootch stepping onto the pitch and blinked vehemently to clear her head. To Ariana's relief her stomach finally relaxed and her feeling of foreboding vanished. Madam Hootch was now in the center of the pitch and Ariana knew that she was probably giving some introductions and telling the teams to play fair. Ariana saw Tyler and the Hufflepuff Quidditch captain, Landon Macmillan, shake hands and she bent her knees in anticipation for the whistle she knew was coming, then it did.

Ariana pushed off the ground along with fifteen other broomsticks, including Madam Hootch, and instantly she knew something was wrong. Her vision clouded suddenly and her head began to pound, before she knew what was happening, Ariana had nearly fallen off her broom. She was saved only by Tyler's voice calling out her name and making her shake her head and look toward his voice as he threw the quaffle to her. Ariana caught the quaffle instinctively and ducked low on her broom to race toward the Hufflepuff goal post.

Ariana was half way through the game before she felt the same feeling wash over her once again. She once again had possession of the quaffle after having already scored ninety points for the Slytherin team and assisted the other chasers in earning the team thirty more points and as she raced to up her teams score, she felt her stomach drop. Ariana felt cold suddenly and she knew instantly that something was wrong. She clumsily tossed off the quaffle to Tyler and tried to shake her head to clear the blur that had begun to form at the corners of her eyes.

Suddenly Ariana's vision began to float in and out of focus. One second she was seeing the game and the next she saw something else entirely. Ariana slowed down on her broomstick conscientiously, wanting to pull herself safely to the sidelines, but before she could safely reach the sidelines everything went dark.

_Ariana looked at herself in a mirror and felt a shock go through her. She was at least three years older. She tried to move her hands up to touch her aged face, but then she realized her hands were already immersed in her own hair. Ariana then realized this was not her body, she was not in control._

In the stands, the crowd watched curiously as they saw one of the players, Ariana, slump suddenly on her broomstick. The broomstick began to fall, and Ariana fell with it for many feet until Madam Hootch, caught her gently and took her to the ground, where she laid Ariana down carefully. Teachers were now coming onto the pitch and Madam Hootch returned into the throng since no game of Quidditch can end until a seeker catches the snitch.

_Ariana could feel everything this stranger was feeling. She could feel the girls hand go through the blond hair Ariana had thought was hers. She could hear the girls thoughts in which she wondered why her hair never fell the way she wanted it to. But above all, Ariana could feel an overwhelming sense of fear within the girl. One that stood above all else. _

_ The girl's hands began to tremble._

The crowd went wild in the stands as Sophia caught the snitch and Slytherin had won their second game. But as cheers and complaints filled the air an even more widespread reaction was confusion, for as the players began to land safely on the ground of the Quidditch Pitch, everyone's attention was suddenly turned onto the commotion happening on the field. Instantly, the students began to pour out onto the field.

_The girl's hands were still shaking when Ariana heard a sound come through the girl's ears. The girl's head whipped around suddenly and Ariana came face to face with a woman carrying a tray of food. Te resemblance between the girl and the woman was extraordinary. They had the same hair, the same eyes, and the same weathered and beaten look as if they had lived many lives in this one._

_ The woman looked as if she was about to speak when the girl, with Ariana in tow, began to speak. "I don't want to eat. I don't feel well."_

_ The woman gave her a sympathetic smile and walked closer to the girl placing the tray of food she had brought with her down on a table in her pathway. "I know you don't Ariana, but you have to. I already let you skip lunch today, so you can't skip dinner. Come on now, sit down."_

_ Ariana felt the girl begin to shake more violently. "Mum, please. I don't want to eat. Please just leave." The girl let her head slump down and clamped her eyes tight._

In that moment of darkness Ariana was vaguely aware of hands clamoring all over her, attempting to shake her awake. She felt spells hit her body in jolts and she tried desperately to open her eyes but it was as if she had no control of her body anymore and she was only slightly aware that her body was violently shaking. Ariana felt herself take a deep breath

_Then the girl inhaled suddenly and Ariana could feel the despair welling in the pit of the girl's stomach_, _her own stomach, they were one now. Ariana looked up at her mother with pleading eyes she knew what was coming, surely her mother had to know as well._

_ "Mum please I can't eat right now, I-"She broke off as her mother put her arms around her attempting to comfort. "DON'T TOUCH ME!"_

_ A sudden burst of energy exploded out of Ariana's body causing her mother to stagger up and away from her. Ariana saw a brief look of terror cross her mother's face and shame coursed through her body making her quake even harder. Her breathing quickened and tears gathered at the base of her eyes as she stared at her mother pleading for forgiveness. Her mother had no sunk to her knees with her head in her hands and instantly Ariana began to feel all that energy building up within her again, she knew she had to get her mother out of there._

Ariana's body was now shaking so violently all the teachers had begun to force the students to move away from her. All except for the headmistress who was still vehemently casting quick enchantments over Ariana in attempts to stop the energy that was surely building about within Ariana's tiny frame. The headmistress paused to wipe sweat building on her brow and shook her head silently, hopelessness building steadily in the pit of her stomach.

Suddenly there was a pop somewhere to the left of Ariana's body and instantly Scorpius was kneeling beside Ariana, leaving a stupefied Professor Slughorn on the ground behind him. The headmistress looked at him in confusion and was about to say something when suddenly Ariana convulsed sending bits of energy in every direction. Panic overwhelmed the crowd and it dispersed as quickly as it began leaving only the few students who had been hit by Ariana's blows, the teachers, Drake, and Scorpius.

"Professor!" Scorpius yelled over the roar of a thousand voices running desperately toward the castle. "What do we do?"

The headmistress looked at him blankly before straightening resolutely and standing up to look at her fearful staff. "Professors, I want you to report to the houses you represent and establish order. Those of you who don't represent a house will decide both to stay and help me or help get students indoor. Drake I want you inside," Drake opened his mouth to complain. "Now!"

The teachers nodded their understanding and set about their duties while Drake hesitantly followed the house representatives up toward the castle. Scorpius looked expectantly at Headmistress McGonagall awaiting his orders but none came. The headmistress simply nodded at him and set about casting protective enchantments around them. Ariana began to convulse again and Scorpius physically felt her energy hit him violently he braced himself against the blows when suddenly the headmistress was beside him on the ground.

"Scorpius," she said bracing herself against the blows coming up against them. "I need you to do whatever you did before to calm her down."

_ Ariana's tears came freely now as her mother slowly rose to her feet and smiled down at her daughter. "Its okay honey, I'm alright." _

_ She came closer to Ariana, and with every step her mother took the more difficult it was for Ariana to breathe until ultimately she couldn't at all. She felt her whole body warm as her muscles shut down and she looked up at her mother in fear, she knew this would be like nothing that had happened before._

"Scorpius look!" McGonagall looked hopefully at Ariana's still body.

Scorpius smiled back at her and took Ariana's hand tightly; glad to see that the ordeal was over.

_ Her mother stepped closer to her and a fire suddenly began within Ariana's gut. It was spreading over her slowly, paralyzing her. Her bones caught fire one by one and she felt her eyes widen. She opened her mouth but no words of warning came out as she had wanted them to. Instead she groaned at the fire spread to her head and began to pulse. She rocked her body with every lick of the flames that overtook her as the temperature rose rapidly._

_ Suddenly, her mother's arms were around her, like ice on a bed of lava and whispering words in her ear that, try as she might, Ariana was unable to understand. The fire as growing within her pulsing faster every second. She distantly heard a piercing scream of agony she failed to recognize as her own and threw her mother away from her with inhuman strength. She told hold of her head as she began to wither on the ground shaking violently and screaming just hoping for the pain to end. Her body was a lit with flame and all she wanted with the sweet release. _

_ Ariana's mother was frozen in fear as he r daughter fell apart in front of her, her whole body glowing, she wanted to put an end to things, but she couldn't._

Scorpius held tighter to Ariana pleading for her body temperature to go down, he and the headmistress no longer knew anything they could attempt.

_Ariana's screamed subsided as the flame was sucked into a vortex at her center and all was calm for a second, her mother crawled to her side._

Scorpius gripped Ariana's shoulders in wonder.

_Then it happened. The fire suddenly exploded from within her bursting out of her skin and sending everything around her flying in every direction. Her mother was thrown away from her and Ariana felt all the tendons in her body stretch as if the magical energy was tearing her apart at the seams. Ariana fell heavily to the ground, finally aware that she had been floating merely seconds ago and her eyes looked widely around the room until her saw her mother._

Ariana's eyes fluttered open and she slowly regained her senses. She sat up and was instantly nauseous. She leaned over to her side and heaved her breakfast onto the field, and then she heard it. Screams of agony coming from somewhere beside her and shaking in fear she turned toward there source. There was Scorpius twitching on the ground covered in blood spewing from various deep tears in his skin. The headmistress stood over him muttering healing spells and silencing him as he screamed.

Ariana was barely aware that tears were streaming down her face and simply stood there letting them fall terrified as she watched her best friend bleed because of her. Ariana's eyes began to glaze over and she felt herself begin to fall back into that other mind, the one of the other Ariana. Ariana sobbed and shook her head violently,

_She was crawling toward the slumped figure in the corner of the now darkened room,_

She was crawling away from Scorpius.

_She caught sight of the pool of blood around her mother._

Ariana stood shakily and glanced back at Scorpius, so much blood covered him that she had to look away to avoid getting sick, but she could still hear his screams.

_Ariana reached the body and saw her mother's icy blue eyes staring at her, wide with terror and surprise. Her mother was dead. Ariana began to shake._

Ariana felt her body start to shake and knew that she and the girl couldn't hold on much longer before the panic of murder set in. So, fueled by her terror of what was to come and by the screams surrounding her, she ran.

-Yay update! Hope you like it =]


	17. The Ring and the Sorting Hat's Words

Magical Encounters

Chapter Seventeen: The Ring and The Sorting Hat's Words

Ariana shook her head violently to clear the image of the girl's mother, her mother, out of her head. She rapidly sped toward the forest at the edge of the grounds hoping to leave her mind behind her but unfortunately there was one image she couldn't shake off as she broke through the primary thicket of the forest. The image of Scorpius covered in blood floated dangerously in her mind and she knew it was completely and entirely her fault.

With tears in her eyes Ariana struggled as the foliage thickened. She needed to get away; she wanted to be as far as possible from anyone and everyone. She had already…But she couldn't think about that right now, all she could do now was run. And with that clear and concise determination in her mind the thoughts of what she did sprung away from the forefront of her mind and into its recesses allowing her to run without hesitation, deeper and deeper into the forest.

As the night thickened around her, it became nearly impossible for Ariana to keep her footing as she stumbled restlessly through the forest. Then finally, after what seemed like ages of running, Ariana caught a glimpse of what appeared to be a clearing and so she summoned up all of her strength and threw herself that final few feet. Unfortunately, the forest had other plans for Ariana and as she braced for her critical jumped, a branch latched itself to her foot and rather than encountering the soft grass that awaited her in the clearing, Ariana was greeted was cold, hard, root filled earth as she tumbled ungraciously to the ground.

The pain of the fall hadn't fully set in when violent sobs overcame Ariana, bursting forth rapidly and relentlessly. Every time Ariana closed her eyes she saw the mother and energy began to build up within her yet each time they opened she saw Scorpius still and ashen. There was no escape, no relief from this torture. There was only agony and time.

It wasn't long before all of Ariana's tears had dried and she was left as a withering ball of whimpering gasps and sudden heaves, a replacement of the sobs she had unceremoniously overused. With each heave her stomach tightened and with one final tearless sob, Ariana finally felt her stomach turn over. She twisted to face the ground on all fours and spewed out the few contents of her stomach until there was nothing left but air.

Ariana, having exhausted all her energy and tears, finally felt her breathing begin to slow and she knew at that point that this horrible endeavor was finally over. She blinked rapidly to clear her head and her extremities, which had, until recently and without Ariana's acknowledgement, been numb, slowly came back. It was then that Ariana became aware that an object was lodged uncomfortably under her knee and digging into her flesh.

Ariana let herself fall to her right side and squinted in the darkness to examine what she expected to be a rock. When this method proved to be futile Ariana rubbed her eyes roughly and shook her head before ultimately bringing out her wand and whispering "lumos" into the cold night. The soft light danced off of something that was evidently not a rock and Ariana tilted her head slightly to get a better look. Gold and black glinted back at her mischievously, almost like a covert wink and before she could stop herself, Ariana reached out and took the object in her hands. It was a ring. A golden ring inlaid with a shiny black stone. Squinting in the wand light Ariana became aware of some sort of design in the stone, although said design was ruined by an overwhelming crack right down the stone's middle.

Ariana shrugged to herself considering whether or not to pocket the ring. Even without the crack the ring appeared to be poorly made by someone with unequivocally clumsy hands. On the other hand, however, the ring looked ancient enough to be worth something. In the end Ariana tucked the ring into her Quidditch robes deciding that she needed something that she could call the highlight of the most haunting and grueling night of her life to date.

Looking around the forest Ariana could see that the night was wearing down. She knew that this meant that soon enough she would have to summon up the courage to return to Hogwarts and discover the consequences of her actions. However, when Arian mustered up the guts to stand she had barely made it five steps before her legs gave out underneath her and she went tumbling to the ground, landing bluntly on all fours. This time, Ariana winced as she felt pain trickle through her.

Ariana took a few breaths to steady herself and resolutely allowed herself to collapse to her side. In her opinion any moving could wait the few hours until morning came. Besides, if anything could delay her discovery of what happened on the Quidditch Pitch after her exit, then she was going to grab at that opportunity.

* * *

Ariana awoke to the sound of a teapot screeching to be taken off the fire. She jolted upwards and wildly looked around her blinking rapidly attempting to take in her environment. She appeared to be in some sort of wooden hut that was extremely small and wildly hot for this time of year. She soon realized the heat came from a wool blanket that lay on top of her and not solely from the fire stoking the still screaming teapot.

Looking to her left Ariana saw the back of a man, if you could call this huge boulder of a person a man, and she realized it was none other than Hagrid and she was in, what she assumed, was Hagrid's hut. As if sensing he was being thought of, Hagrid abruptly turned around and flashed his lopsided smile in Ariana's direction before walking clumsily toward the teapot and taking it off the fire.

"How're yeh feelin' Ari?" He mumbled as he poured out tea into two enormous bowl sized cups. "I had a bit o' a frigh' when I found yeh in the forest. Yeh were fast asleep so I brought ya here. Figured I could take you to the 'ospital if yeh needed it."

Ariana blinked twice at Hagrid before her mind had caught on to everything he said and all at once she remembered the events of the day before. "Thanks Hagrid," Ariana said as she got up and then winced; it appeared her body wasn't in the best state quite yet. "Any news on, well anyone?"

"Not much," Hagrid said, handing Ariana her "cup" of tea as she slumped into one of the chairs around Hagrid's table. "The professors made all the students go to yer common rooms."

"But Hagrid," Ariana began, all of sudden feeling timid. "What about Scorpius? IS he? Did I?"

Try as she might Ariana could not force out any more words and she simply looked sadly at Hagrid praying he would understand and put her out of her misery.

"He is alrigh' Ari." Hagrid whispered . "He got fixed up real good in the 'ospital wing and he should be outta there in a day or two. Now yer, yeh have ta meet with the headmistress and figure out wha' ta do 'bout this problem ya got."

Ariana set down her cup and drew her knees in close to her body. She was going to be expelled she knew it! How could they not expel a nutcase like her. No wonder the sorting hat had put her in Slytherin, no good witch would nearly kill someone, a friend, no matter what the consequences. The tears came then, quiet but steady and Ariana could feel the dread pooling in her stomach. Granted, the orphanage wasn't a horrible place to live, especially having Mary there. Regardless, however, Ariana couldn't picture living a muggle life after going to Hogwarts without feeling her stomach drop precariously, fueling the tears streaming down her cheeks. The one solace Ariana had was that maybe the headmistress would be kind enough to erase her memories.

* * *

Hagrid and Ariana stood in front of a golden gargoyle that had just come to life before their eyes. The gargoyle stepped aside revealing a winding staircase and leaving an open mouthed Ariana utterly wracked by her nerves. She looked up at Hagrid, who smiled encouragingly back down at her and nudged her forward. After his having taken the time to calm her down while she cried inside his house, Ariana figured she owed it to Hagrid to go forth quietly and face her fate and so she began to climb up the hidden spiral staircase.

As she climbed up Ariana's mind flipped remarkably fast through every possible ending she believed this meeting could have, from getting expelled quickly and quietly to her running away from the office with her wand and living the rest of her life in isolation. Suffice it to say that by the time she reached the door at the top of the staircase, Ariana was a complete and utter nervous mess. Her hand shook as she extended it to grab hold of the handle and it took her three tries before she had gripped it firmly enough to turn it and push into the room that would unveil her fate and whether or not she had a future in the magical world.

The second Ariana caught her first glimpse of the inside of the Headmistress's office all her nerves and qualms went out the window because in front of her was the most spectacular collection of magical artifacts and knickknacks that she had ever seen. Even taking into account the shops at Diagon Alley, there were numerous things in the enormous room that Ariana was at an utter loss as to how to describe and categorize it all in her mind.

Ariana was looking around for the headmistress when something caught her eye on the top shelf of a glass structure. It was the sorting hat and Ariana knew instantly that this was it. This was her chance to get some answers. She stepped toward the hat, never taking her eyes off of it and just as she was about to be directly in front of it, the rip toward its end twitched and the hat became animated.

"Well hello there Miss Dumbledore," the hat said in its deep but raspy voice. "Enjoying your first year? Exams are coming up, so you'd best start hitting the books and-"

"Why am I in Slytherin?" Ariana blurted, interrupting the Sorting Hat.

"I explained this to you before," said the hat sounding as exasperated as a hat possibly could. "There is darkness in you that even you do not know of and the only house that will allow you to follow a path to discover and conquer that darkness is Slytherin."

"But why?" Ariana whined as tears of frustration began to pool in the corner of her eyes again. "Why can't it be Gryffindor? They would be brave enough to help me. And the Raveclaws are smart enough to help me. Why does it have to be the one place where my last name is taboo? I am taunted every day for something I couldn't control and worse is the fact that now, due to my "condition", people REALLY think I'm evil."

"It is not," The Sorting Hat began. "The character of the house that will help you, but the people who reside there. The families of Gryffindor, in particular those of your companions, have already been honored beyond belief for their past deeds, now with your help on the way to yourself discover, a new family may be honored after many centuries of shame have clouded over them. I am not telling you it will be easy and I know it seems as if I am asking you to be entirely selfless for the benefit of others but the truth is I am not. This house and the company you will hold there will lead you to discover the darkness inside yourself so that you may control it and in that person's journey to honor, you will be able to defeat an evil greater than any you have ever faced. This evil, will be great enough that if you destroy it as it is told, you will absolve your darkness and walk into a life of light along with all of wizarding kind."

"As it is told," Arian began, confused. "What does that mean?"

The Sorting Hat would have smirked if it could. "That is not a question I can answer for you. After all I am just a hat. Perhaps you should ask somewhere a little closer to the tree from which your acorn has fallen. After all, there are prophets and then there are people who simply make extremely good guesses and if there is anyone who can help you on your journey, it is the one who is connected to you by ties that rival all of darkness; the ties of the blood that runs in your veins. That is all I have to say to you, I hope it has been of help to you."

With that, all sign of life left the Sorting Hat and Ariana was left there bewildered and even more curious to know what it was that made her so different. It was at that moment of pondering that Professor McGonagall walked in and all the nerves Ariana had misplaced in honor of curiosity and discovery came back to her in a rush. She felt her stomach drop to her feet and swallowed audibly before smiling nervously and uncomfortably at her headmistress who looked at her sternly and gestured for Ariana to sit down on the available chair across from the desk of the headmistress herself.

* * *

Hey guys,

I hope you all liked that chapter! The year is wrapping up really quickly and soon it will be on to Ariana's second year at Hogwarts, that is, if she doesn't get expelled. ;P

-Becca


	18. Voices

Magical Encounters

Chapter Eighteen: Voices

Disclaimer- I do not own HP =/

Ariana sat down immediately, wanting to show her Headmistress the best possible behavior-anything to help her case at this point- , and waited for their conversation to begin. To Ariana's disappointment, however, Professor McGonagall seemed to be taking every possible measure to delay the start of what was sure to be a very long discussion. McGonagall began by pacing back and forth behind her desk and mumbling under her breath about something Ariana couldn't make out. Occasionally, when the headmistress did steal a glance toward her taciturn student, Ariana offered polite smiles which, to her dismay, were never returned. Finally, with an enormous sigh McGonagall threw herself down onto the throne-like chair across from Ariana and, while slumping uncharacteristically, drew her face into her hands.

After having waited what she thought to be a sufficiently considerate amount of time, Ariana figured that if anyone was going to put an end to the silence, it wasn't going to be the headmistress.

"Um, Professor?" Ariana began feebly before clearing her throat and starting again. "Am I going to be expelled?" No response. "I understand if that is the only thing you can do, but I was wondering if maybe I could apologize to Scorpius before I leave. I feel really bad about what happened."

Minerva McGonagall look flabbergasted. "Expelled? What on Earth gave you that idea?" Ariana took a breath as if to answer. "No. No, absolutely not. The day you get expelled is the day I fail Albus as his successor in running this school. Besides, you can't be expelled. It has become obvious that you need all the magical knowledge you can possibly get lest something like this happens again. No, you will stay. However, we do have to determine what we can do about your…situation."

At last the headmistress looked to Ariana, obviously awaiting some interjection and perhaps an idea or two about what could possible sort this entire mess out. Unfortunately, it was now Ariana's turn to sit bemused and staring blanking, mouth very slightly agape, at her headmistress. This was not at all what she had expected.

The sound of fluttering wings gave both the woman and the girl an outlet for which to distract herself. They both turned, in contagion, toward the nearest window and found what Ariana thought looked like a rather large and oddly colored Flamingo. She looked toward her headmistress hoping to find the same puzzling look detailed upon her ancient face but instead she saw astonishment mixed in with a glimmer of deep, deep sadness.

Slowly Minerva McGonagall walked toward her window and, with trembling hands, pried it open. The bird methodically clamored in and took perch upon a stand that resided near the window itself, almost as if it had always been there waiting for him. It was then that McGonagall turned toward her pupil and smiled, her eyes gleaming slightly.

"Miss Dumbledore," the headmistress began, looking gently between the bird and the girl. "This is Fawkes."

Ariana stood up from her chair and walked toward the animal careful not to make any sudden movements since she didn't know whether this bird was friendly. "But, what is he?"

"Fawkes is a phoenix Ariana. A magical bird. Phoenixes can carry immensely heavy loads, their tears have healing powers, and, when they feel their life is at an end, they simply combust into flames and then are reborn from the ashes. This also happens to be the very same phoenix that was loyal to your uncle, Albus Dumbledore."

Ariana chanced a look to her headmistress and saw that all signs of tearful nostalgia had been wiped from her face and now in its stead was a calculating look. Ariana took another step toward the bird and suddenly felt a tremor go through her body. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath to steady herself, and then she began to raise her hand toward the phoenix.

Eyes still closed, Ariana stopped her hand just before she touched the bird- The heat radiating off him let her know she was within inches of its feathers- and held it there. Something inside her told her to wait. It told her that this bird needed to come to her, not the other way around. Ariana stood silently, barely allowing herself to breathe and then she heard her headmistress draw in a quick breath and braced herself, expecting a blow. None came. Instead, she felt the rough surface of the bird's beak rub against her palm and then lower itself so that she could touch the feathers on the top of his head.

Ariana opened her eyes and looked at the creature nuzzling itself in her hand. Fawkes was beautiful. His beak was black as night and looked as if it was carved from the hardest stone and with eyes to match, one would think he looked quite sinister. Only, after the eyes was an outline of golden feathers which instantly softened the look of him and beyond that, every inch of his body, save for the golden end of his tail, was a bright luminous red which seemed to call upon fire's very essence for its color.

"Wow," Ariana began softly. "He is so beautiful Professor. Why is he here?"

The headmistress did not answer right away. She was busy telling herself she had imagined the red glow emanating from the young girl as she touched Fawkes for the first time. Soon enough however she realized a question had been asked of her.

"He is here for you." McGonagall stepped behind Ariana and put a hand on her shoulder. She was astonished to feel heat radiating off her student and was instantly reassured that her words were correct and that her earlier vision was not a figment of her imagination. "It seems that Fawkes has decided to be your companion just as he decided long ago to be your Uncle's. No one has seen this bird since the time of your uncle's death."

Ariana finally drew her hands from the bird and looked at her headmistress. Instantly, Minerva felt the heat diminish against her hand and simply looked down at her pupil, hoping her face did not betray her and show her shock.

"He is my companion? What does that mean?" Ariana asked.

He will be loyal to you and look after you, as well as those you show loyalty to you." McGonagall now walked back toward her desk. "He will come to you in battles and aid when needed and he will always be there for you, to listen and deliver messages. He should become a most treasured companion."

Ariana looked at Fawkes and smiled at him. "Alright then Fawkes, I'm Ariana, nice to meet you."

* * *

Half an hour later Ariana was wrapping up her visit with the headmistress when suddenly McGonagall jumped up as if bitten by something. "I almost forgot Miss Dumbledore!"

The headmistress walked briskly to one of the portraits along the wall of her office and gestured to it. "It seems you have impeccable timing seeing as we had arranged to meet in February anyway, but this is what I wanted you to see."

She stepped aside quietly and revealed to Ariana the portrait of Albus Dumbledore. "If anyone should tell you about he who must not be named, it is your uncles own likeness in this portrait. However, I ask that we postpone the official meeting between you two seeing as there is much yet to be done. When the new school year arises we shall attempt this again but at least now you know you are not alone."

Sensing this rain-check was just as good as a direct dismissal; Ariana thanked the headmistress, gathered her belongings, and began to head out of the office and into the school. No, now that she knew she had some form of family here, some form of answers, this was no longer just a school for her, this was her home. So Ariana walked down the spiral staircase and walked straight ahead into her beautiful home.

* * *

Ariana now sat unbothered everywhere she went. She no longer heard taunts from anyone, Slytherin or otherwise. Despite this, she knew that people were talking about her. Every time she walked into a room hushed voices would stop their chattering and simply stare at her until she exited. Ariana thought she had preferred it when people were mean directly to her face.

Ariana took to spending most of her days in the dormitory studying for her finals and talking to Fawkes who had, much to the dismay of her four roommates, taken up residence in her room. She spent her nights in the hospital wing watching Scorpius sleep because she wasn't brave enough to face him in the mornings while he was awake. Until finally, one night, she found that he had gotten better and thus left to join his fellow housemates in the common room.

That night Ariana walked like a woman headed for the gallows toward the dungeons where she would surely find Scorpius waiting for her apology. Ariana wanted to give it so badly that it caused her physical pain at night when she dreamt about it, but she was terrified. Terrified that with her apology would come Scorpius' scorn and a hate for the evil she had done to him. She finally reached the common room, and with a deep breath she gave the password and walked in.

* * *

Scorpius saw her the second she walked in, her sandy hair pulled up in a messy lopsided ball on the top of her head and bouncing slightly with each step she took. She kept her gaze down hoping to avoid the eyes of anyone in the common room but unfortunately for her they were alone this late into the night and there was no way she was getting away from him.

As he got up from his comfortable arm chair by the fire and walked over to intercept her, Scorpius could see she was trembling. His feet stumbled as he sensed her fear and in order to lessen the shock which would surely come from a surprise encounter, Scorpius cleared his throat obnoxiously and waited for her to become aware of his presence.

* * *

Ariana looked up at the sound of someone clearing their throat and blinked rapidly to locate the only person in the room, Scorpius. This was it, the time for the confrontation. Ariana drew her head as high as she could manage and strode the remaining steps toward him. She felt herself grow stronger with each step and for a moment she considered that she might be able to go through this with some sense of pride and dignity. Scorpius met her eyes; grey met icy blue, and smiled shyly at her.

She heard a shatter of glass distantly in her ear before she felt the type of cold that comes from breaking through a tough shell ripple through her body. She knew she was shaking again, her eyes filling up with guilt in the form of water that pushed dangerously upon their brim, and before she could stop herself she threw her arms around Scorpius and began to cry in earnest, belting out apologies with any spare breath she had.

At first the shock of the ambush had seemed to paralyze Scorpius, but before long he regained control of his limbs and wrapped his arms around Ariana and said "its okay" as if it were his new mantra.

They stood there like that for half an hour before Ariana's tears finally dried and the two of them pulled apart. Ariana looked at Scorpius pleading for understanding as well as punishment to end her guilt. Instead she simply got a smile and an offer to walk her to the stairs to the dormitories because they both needed their rest.

As she laid in bed that night listening to Abby's purring, Ariana thought about Scorpius and how, in one night, he had managed to show her the truth behind friendship.

* * *

Ariana could not play Quidditch for the rest of term. It was decided by the headmistress that Professor Slughorn would develop a daily anti-anxiety type of potion which would likely reduce her outburst to purely moments of great distress where anxiety was uncontrollable. However, due to the complicated nature of the potion and the fact that they were brewing enough to last Ariana through the summer as well, the potion would not be ready until the end of term and so Ariana could not take part in any event that would provide heightened emotional stress. In fact, it was only after many complaints from both Ariana and the staff, that the headmistress even allowed Ariana to sit her exams, this after coming to the conclusion that testing did not give Ariana any anxiety.

Regardless of the necessity of this potion, a new fervor had awakened in the Slytherin House. For now that their star chaser was out of commission, how would the Slytherin team possibly win the Quidditch cup. The answer was, they wouldn't. In a crushing defeat Slytherin lost by over a hundred points and the team was pushed into third place, beating only Ravenclaw. The end result? There was finally something to rival the fear that all the Slytherins felt toward Ariana, hate.

Through this anger, insults and whispers began to break through the silence once again and into Ariana's ears. Not a minute went by where someone didn't hiss an angry comment behind her back and though Ariana hadn't liked to be feared she wasn't sure she welcomed this type of behavior again. However, it wasn't until the middle of exam week, when tempers were high, that someone actually had the audacity to insult Ariana to her very face. When that moment came, Ariana was not surprised at all to find Elaine looking at her with disgusted contempt.

It was right after her history of magic exam as Ariana sat in an armchair pouring over her Transfiguration textbook, Abby in her lap, that Ariana felt a gust of wind as someone hurried over to her and hovered over her for a slight second before slamming their hand down on her book and knocking it onto the floor. Abby jumped off Ariana's lap with a hiss and looked up at Elaine bravely with her teeth showing. Elaine ignored the cat and glowered at Ariana who, due to test fatigue, had only just begun to understand what was occurring.

"You know," Elaine began while Ariana blinked lazily up at her. "You are honestly worthless. You nearly kill everyone at one Quidditch match and then you can't even set it straight at the next one. Everyone is so scared of you now too, because they think they finally understand why you are in this house. Because you are evil. I don't think so though, I think you are just pathetic."

Ariana avoided Elaine's gaze and looked around frantically for her fallen book. Though it didn't register much in her conscious, Ariana's pulse began to pick up. She had finally picked up her book when Elaine very unceremoniously knocked it down to the floor again. Ariana began to shake.

"Oi!" Elaine was yelling now, drawing the attention of everyone in the common room including a golden haired boy who had been dozing silently across the room. "Did you hear me Dumbledore? You are nothing, you should leave this house, Hell, you should leave Hogwarts. You don't belong here."

Ariana sniffled as tears gathered in her eyes and her breath grew labored as she felt the energy within her begin to pulsate again. Elaine however, was oblivious. In fact, she was about to begin her torment anew when Scorpius very bravely and publically stepped in.

"Lay off Elaine." Ariana blinked through her tears and looked up at him.

Elaine looked shocked. "And why is that? Afraid she will blow up at me because I make her angry? Come off it Scorpius, I can handle her. Don't worry about me."

Elaine said this with a finality that clearly showed she did not intend to be challenged. But then, why should she be? This was he friend Scorpius after all.

"I am not worried about you," Scorpius began, stepping more directly between the two girls and staring at Elaine as if she was no more than a fly in his line of vision. "I am worried about her. She doesn't need this from you or anyone else in this room."

He voice had gotten louder toward the end of his sentence so as to let all others know that Ariana was not to be bothered. Elaine however, wasn't ready to give in.

"Who cares what she needs! She nearly killed you and she lost us the Quidditch cup!"

Scorpius' eyes were a steely grey now. "We haven't won the Quidditch cup in years and the only reason we came so close was because of her, you should thank her. Besides, she didn't kill me did she? I'm fine."

"Why are you defending her?" Elaine asked, her convictions withering under Scopius' cold gaze. "I thought we were friends."

"We could have been," Scorpius said nonchalantly. "But I think I'd rather be friends with her to be honest. She may have some…temper issues, but at least she has a heart."

Elaine frowned, obviously offended and hurt by his words. "What about your father? What will he think? Being friends with a Dumbledore?"

For a slight second Scorpius faltered before regaining his confidence. "I'd like to think he will understand, but if not, then I guess I'll have to find a new role model because that will make it clear he is not someone I should look up to."

Elaine scowled at him now, sensing her only possibility of winning had been lost. "You just made a big mistake Malfoy."

Scorpius watched her as she walked away before picking up the Transfiguration textbook on the ground handing it to his friend and plopping down on the armchair directly beside her. Across the room his eyes met Drake's. Drake smiled at him and nodded slightly, acknowledging the point where they, as well as Ariana, had begun to walk along the same path and Scorpius knew instantly that he had done the right thing.

Next to him Ariana smiled as she thought about their friendship and what it had taken to get to this point. She was proud of him for standing up to his "friends" and even more so, though indirectly, his father. She thought about telling him this right then and there but thought better of it seeing as he looked entirely exhausted. Besides, they would have plenty of time to talk now that they were friends for all to see.

Ariana also thought about the words of the sorting hat and how he had talked about her helping bring honor to a family.

* * *

Lucius Malfoy watched as his grandson introduced a small sandy-haired girl to his son, Draco, and his wife. Instantly, Lucius felt recognition course through him and immediately the voices began chattering away. He had taken to listening to the cold, snake-like voice that dominated the others ever since Narcissa had become ill from a cursed object they procured at Borgin and Burkes. Right now, this was the voice whispering to him most urgently, "She is the one, use the boy." Lucius had begun to walk toward the girl, the maniacal gleam from the old days shinning in his eyes, when a trembling hand reached out to him.

Lucius turned to face his fragile wife and instantly all the voices were hushed. Narcissa smiled at him and he felt that more murderous side of him slide back into the dark recesses of his mind. The same place where the hissing voice resided silenced once again by the wife who would soon be out of the picture.

Lucius watched, now amiably, as the girl walked off with a kind looking woman. Soon his grandson will come and greet him and Lucius will watch as his wife smiles brilliantly at her grandson. A smile from her is rare nowadays and he will treasure the moment as much as he can before it is over. The voices within him have stopped for now and he barely recalls what they were saying to him in the first place. In fact, he is blissfully unaware of the processes taking place within him and the young boy jogging up to him with all the happiness that came with having a good first year of school.

* * *

END OF YEAR ONE.

Hey all! I hope you enjoyed that. I know it was kind of rushed but I had a lot of information to fit into just one chapter. I hope you enjoyed it as well as all the clues about what is to come in the future. Year two is going to start soon =]


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